KL Rahul has established himself as one of the key members of the Indian cricket team across all three formats.

His international career has seen a massive turnaround in the last one year. At the start of 2021, he was not sure if his place in the starting XI was secure or not but things turned out in such a way that by the end of the year he was tasked with leading the side against South Africa.

From being included in the side as a back-up opener for England tour to becoming the first-choice opener across all formats, the Karnataka batter couldn’t have wished for things to unfold any better. 

Wait… that’s not entirely true. There was one thing he would have loved to pan out differently. You see, whenever he stepped onto the field as the captain, India ended up losing that match.

Considering his individual performances, no doubt he had a memorable year but his biggest regret must be that he couldn’t guide India to victory neither in Test nor ODIs. 

Ever since India suffered a whitewash in the ODI series, people have been raising questions over his leadership skills. 

Many experts have publicly criticised his captaincy and now former India cricketer and current MoS Youth Affairs and Sports of West Bengal Tiwary has also shared his views on the same. 

Rather than mincing words, Tiwary slammed the selectors and asked them what they saw in him before entrusting him with the responsibility of leading the squad.

“What did you see in Rahul as captaincy material? Suddenly, they're saying that they're ‘grooming’ him as a future captain. I don't understand how you can groom a captain,” Tiwary told Sportskeeda. 

Reacting to the reports that claimed that the selectors wanted to groom Rahul as a future leader, the former West Bengal skipper said that leadership is an in-born quality, some people have it and some don’t. 

“A person is either a born leader or he isn't. Captaincy comes naturally, it's an inbuilt quality. Grooming a captain is possible, but the process will take a long time. It will take a player around 20 to 25 games to learn about decision-making, but even then success will not be guaranteed. See, every international match is important for India.” 

The former right-handed batter, who played 12 ODIs for India, said that more than Rahul he was disappointed with the selectors for choosing the wrong person to lead the side. 

“I'm not blaming Rahul for his captaincy, but I'm disappointed with the selectors, who should identify leadership skills in a player rather than ‘grooming’ a captain. That's why I want to ask the selectors what they saw in Rahul to make him the captain of India,” he added, lambasting the five-member national selection panel chaired by Chetan Sharma. 

Leading the side for the first time, KL Rahul did look clueless at times but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have what it takes to become a leader. We shouldn’t judge him based on one series defeat; it’s too immature.

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