India's fast-fading in-betweeners
Did the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer miss the bus for captaincy when Ganguly and Dravid needed successors?
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Did the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Zaheer miss the bus for captaincy when Ganguly and Dravid needed successors? Maybe. Now that these players form the experienced lot in the dressing room, their names do not feature in the list of Dhoni's successor for captaincy. Sandeep Dwivedi, in the Indian Express, writes how the 'in-between' generation of Indian cricket improved their skill-sets but weren't programmed to think long term or as leaders.
Once again, as India rebuilds, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan or Zaheer don't really figure in captaincy debates. With names like Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli thrown up, the selectors seem to have moved on. The in-betweeners would have been ideal for the top job, courtesy their experience of witnessing a generational shift. But here they are, again busy fighting their own battles against form and fitness. This doesn't mean history won't acknowledge their contribution. But they will be remembered as soldiers with a chestful of medals, not the path-breaking generals that they could have been.