Former Indian cricket team opener Gautam Gambhir believes that captaincy does not have any significant impact on a player’s batting and he namedropped a number of former India skippers to drive his point home. In a recent interaction with Sportskeeda, Gambhir mentioned MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly to show that despite being exceptionally successful captains, their game was not affected by the added responsibilities. He also named captains like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in his argument.

“I don’t think being a captain affects a batter’s game. There have been many captains who have given great performances while being captains. It’s about the individual mindset. MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, and Anil Kumble have performed well. Similarly, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have done it too,” he said.

Gambhir himself captained India for a brief tenure and even won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014. Gambhir explained that a player is chosen on the basis of his batting and bowling skills with captaincy being only an added responsibility for a cricketer.

“When a captain steps out to bat, his primary job is to score runs. You are selected in the team as a batter or a bowler; captaincy is an additional responsibility given to you. While batting, if you’re going to think that I am the captain, the ball or the bat doesn’t know that you are the captain. You are a batter when you have the bat in your hand and a bowler when you have the ball. You become the captain when you get out or complete your over,” he further added.