The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is considering Hardik Pandya to lead the Indian side in limited overs formats.
According to the sources, the board officials have discussed their plan with Hardik and the all-rounder has asked few days to take a decision.
Hardik Pandya set to lead Team India in limited-overs formats
After a humiliating loss in the T20 World Cup, the BCCI is considering some changes in the leadership of shorter formats. Rohit Sharma led the Indian team in the T20 World Cup 2022 after taking over from Virat Kohli last year. Now, BCCI is thinking of handing over the responsibility of the white-ball teams to Hardik who proved himself as a leader in IPL 2022 where he led the Gujarat Titans to victory in their debut season.
“The BCCI has this plan and has discussed it with him. The all-rounder has asked for some days to respond. Let’s see what he thinks of it. No decision has been taken regards with this but yes we are in the thought process to give him the captaincy of white-ball cricket. Let’s see how things go further,” a source from BCCI told ANI.
The BCCI will wait for Hardik’s response and will also seek suggestions from the new senior selection committee after it is formed. Hardik Pandya’s fitness would also be a factor to be considered before handing him over the captaincy responsibilities.
Hardik led the Indian team in New Zealand and Ireland and got positive results. Most of the senior players will now focus on the ODI World Cup scheduled in October – November 2023 while some new faces will be groomed for the T20 World which is scheduled in 2024. It’s quite certain that Hardik will be the first choice captain in the T20 format at the same time it will be interesting to see when he’ll be handed over the captaincy in ODI format.
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Some of the former players have backed Hardik Pandya to take over as India’s next T20I captain as they believe the Indian team needs to change their approach in the shorter formats to get success in major ICC tournaments.