Former Indian Test opener Wasim Jaffer believes Ruturaj Gaikwad has been given the One-Day captaincy for India A series against Australia based on seniority. Jaffer highlighted that players like Ishan Kishan and Rajat Patidar have better credentials as leaders.

Patidar has led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to back-to-back titles in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League. On the other hand, Kishan recently led East Zone to triumph in the Duleep Trophy. Furthermore, the wicket-keeper led Jharkhand to glory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Meanwhile, Gaikwad has been named as captain against Australia A whereas in-form Devdutt Padikkal has been picked as his deputy.

“As far as I know, Gaikwad is slightly senior. He has been playing for India A for a while. But it does make sense that Rajat Patidar also deserves captaincy. Even Ishan Kishan. He has been leading well. But you can hand it to anyone out of these three. I don’t think it is that big a matter. Yes, Patidar and Kishan have better credentials, but Gaikwad is slightly ahead in terms of seniority. I don’t think the players will mind,” Wasim Jaffer said in a video on his YouTube channel.

On the other hand, Jaffer reckons it would be a tough call for CSK to keep backing Ruturaj Gaikwad as captain. The former flamboyant batter believes Sanju Samson can take over the captaincy.

“It will be a tough call. Gaikwad’s batting form was not great. His captaincy was not that bad. There were issues with injuries and the availability of many players. His batting form was a concern. I think he needs to focus more on that than captaincy. Given how the T20 game is moving, he is currently not playing as per that template,” he said.

“I feel Samson can become captain. The CSK management has to take that call. I don’t think it will be a bad call even if they remove Gaikwad from captaincy. IPL is a result-oriented league, and sometimes emotions have to be put aside.”

Samson scored 477 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2026.