IPL 2027 | ‘I won’t rule out…’: Ashwin on MI’s captaincy options

Ahead of the league, spoke about Rohit Sharma’s future in the tournament. The former cricketer also said that he won’t rule out Naman Dhir from the options to lead the Mumbai-based franchise in future.

“We don’t know if he’s (Rohit) going to play only one more year or longer. The same has been said about Dhoni, and he has ended up playing for many years and will likely return as a player again next season. In the future, I won’t rule out Naman Dhir also as a captaincy option in the future, looking at his clarity and unflappability,” he said on his YouTube channel.

He also said that MI may trade   for an Indian left-arm pacer from Punjab Kings (PBKS).

“It’s almost certain that he (Hardik) won’t be with MI unless they try to retain him at the last moment. But I do believe he’ll be traded. MI might look for a leg-spinner in the trade, and there were even talks of MI targeting an Indian left-arm pacer from PBKS for Hardik,” said Ashwin.

Currently, Dhir has been featuring in the five-match  series against New Zealand. In the second T20I match, he smashed 31 runs off just 17 deliveries, with the help of a boundary and three maximums.

The “Men in Blue” managed to secure a win by four wickets against the “Black Caps”. Following the victory, the visitors took a 2- 0 lead.

The third T20I match will be played on October 27 at the Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington.

IND vs NZ 3rd T20I: Full squads

India: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [WK], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Tilak Varma [VC], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Kumar Kushagra [WK].

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Matt Henry, Glenn Phillips, Zak Foulkes, Michael Bracewell, Adam Milne, Mitchell Santner (C), Bevon Jacobs, Jacob Duffy, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Mark Chapman, Kyle Jamieson, Devon Conway, Nathan Smith, Lockie Ferguson.