'My personal vote was for...'- Aakash Chopra feels Hyderabad should have appointed veteran Indian star as captain in ITL 2023

Aakash Chopra & Hyderabad franchise (Image credits: Twitter)

The Indian T20 League 2023 is set to kick off on March 31 and the defending champions, Gujarat franchise, will face four-time champions Chennai franchise in the curtain raiser. All 10 franchises are gearing up for the mega event by making sure their players are available and announcing leadership roles.

Inconsistent with captaincy, the Hyderabad franchise have announced a new captain for the 16th edition of the ITL. Ahead of this year's auction, the franchise released their last season's captain Kane Williamson and, recently, named Aiden Markram as their new skipper.

However, the new move from the former ITL champion team did not go down well with ex-Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra. The reknowned commentator feels that the Hyderabad franchise should have replaced Aiden Markram with Indian star pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as their captain for the new season.

"Aiden Markram has become the Hyderabad captain. They had two other options in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mayank Agarwal. My personal vote was for Bhuvneshwar Kumar because he has been with this franchise for many years," in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined.

Chopra also mentioned that Kumar led his team whenever Williamson was unavailable in the last year.

"He is not playing cricket anywhere else, neither ODIs nor T20Is for India, so he will be available for the entire IPL season. Last year also, when Kane (Williamson) left in between, you made him the captain. He has been there for a very long time, my vote was in his favor."

'Mayank was the other option': Chopra

The former India opener also shared his thoughts that not giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar a leadership role indicates that the franchise might not think of playing him in every match. Moreover, Chopra also suggested another Indian player's name for the leadership role.

"Mayank was the other option. What a player he is, I love him to bits, but considering the season he had as a batter and captain (for Punjab Kings) last year, you say you shouldn't trouble him too much and want him to just bat explosively at the start."

Chopra also highlighted that the franchise could have gone with Markram as the middle-order batter led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the SA20 title.

"The team has gone towards Markram after their success in the SA20. He was the Sunrisers Eastern Cape captain and won them the trophy. The way they started the tournament, it seemed the team would not do anything. Against all odds, they just went and lifted the trophy," he said.