IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants coach Andy Flower believes that KL Rahul can be an excellent skipper for Team India. In his career so far, Rahul has led India in seven ODI's, three Tests and one T20I and have achieved a decent level of success.
Rahul was once considered Rohit Sharma's successor across formats but the emergence of Hardik Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans to a title triumph in the team's maiden season in IPL, changed a lot of things.
Flower, who is currently giving his services to Gulf Giants has high hopes from his IPL captain. According to him Rahul has great batting skills and can lead the team well.
"KL is a superb batter, beautiful to watch, I love watching him bat always.
I first came across him when I was coaching England Lions. We played against India A in Trivandrum so I have been a keen follower of him as a batsman since then," Flower said.
The Zimbabwe great praised Rahul's captaincy too.
"He is also an outstanding young man and a really good leader, he is very calm, and measured, and he is good company. I respect him and enjoy working with him."
When asked about Pandya and players such as Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer, Flower said, "What I know of him (Rahul), he will be an excellent skipper. I don't know the other guys very well so can't comment on that, selectors might see that."
He wished Rahul a great married life ahead. Rahul is set to tie the knot with Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty and will not play the upcoming ODI and T20I series against New Zealand. However, he will be back in the team to play the Test series against Australia.
Flower is coaching league teams in various countries and said that he enjoys his role with franchises.
"At the moment I am fairly busy throughout the year due to franchise cricket. I enjoy the professional challenge of moving from team to team and the deception of my coaching style through what the team needs and it's also wonderful to experience different cultures in various countries and teams."
(Inputs from PTI)
