New Delhi, Mar 22 (IANS): The Indian Premier League is an opportunity for many players to discover themselves as a future captain for the Indian cricket team, former India coach Ravi Shastri said on Tuesday.

Shastri, however, lavished praise on the India skipper Rohit Sharma, saying he is doing a remarkably good job, but India will be looking at who will be captaining the team in the future.

"Virat has already relinquished his job. Rohit is an outstanding captain in white-ball cricket. But I think, this IPL India will be looking at who will be captaining the team (in future) -- there is Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul," Shastri said on Tuesday during a press conference organised by Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL 2022.

Shastri said that in every edition of IPL, some players showed their talents.

"The beauty of IPL is that it keeps surprising you. Last IPL we saw Venkatesh Iyer, no one had heard of him and by the time it got over he was in the Indian team. So you expect the unexpected," he said.

Shastri said that the whole country will be "very closely watching" newly appointed Gujarat Titans' captain Hardik Pandya's every move in the upcoming IPL.

"The whole county would be very closely watching Hardik Pandya in the IPL, we all know what he is capable of," Shastri said.