All-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to receive a big honor as it has been decided among the BCCI officials that Pandya should be named the new full-time T20I captain of Team India.
The outgoing selection committee led by Chetan Sharma will announce India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, which will kick start India’s home season, on Tuesday.
Insidesport has strong news about Hardik Pandya being the new full-time T20I skipper taking over from Rohit Sharma, who is expected to miss the Sri Lanka T20I as he is nursing the thumb injury that he had sustained in Bangladesh.
Hardik Pandya is the clear choice over KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as next T20I captain
With the next T20 World Cup scheduled for 2024, the board feels this is the right time for Hardik to take the leadership. And with ODIs and Test preferred in 2023, not only Rohit Sharma will get the sack as the T20I captain, but he might not even play T20Is anymore for India.
“Time has come for Hardik Pandya’s elevation as India’s NEW T20 Captain. Rohit Sharma and various others in current squad are unlikely to sustain till 2024. For sake of Indian Cricket’s future the baton will be passed by Rohit to Hardik for T20 team”, a top source in BCCI told Insidesport.
India currently stress over the injury of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, both of whom missed the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are likely to be given a rest from Sri Lanka T20Is and they will return for the following ODI series.
“Rohit is yet to be 100% and we don’t want to take any risk when it comes to injury. Jadeja and Bumrah are back at the NCA. Their prognosis is good. If they clear the fitness test, they will be eligible for selection. But considering the workload in ODIs, it is only natural that they will return in the ODIs. T20s are not our focus currently,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport on Saturday.
It has also been learned that finally Rishabh Pant might be dropped from India’s T20 squad with both Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan doing well in domestic cricket and also in the chances they have gotten for India.
