The captaincy of the Indian cricket team is one of the toughest jobs of the world but some time back, it became a big joke as 7 players led the team in a duration of almost one year. However, now things are looking good as Hardik Pandya is leading the T20I side and Rohit Sharma is leading the ODI and test squad.
Rohit Sharma hasn’t played any T20I match after India’s exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 and it seems that the selectors have made up minds to keep Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul away from the shortest format. If things keep on happening in the similar fashion, Hardik Pandya will be leading a young team in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and he will also take over the ODI captaincy after Rohit Sharma retires because recently he was named as the vice-captain of the ODI team. Though KL Rahul was the vice-captain of the team for quite a long time and he also played as the stand-in captain in Rohit Sharma’s absence, his lean phase has put a question mark even on his place in the team, leave aside captaincy.
The team has performed pretty well under Hardik Pandya and recently, the former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev has given a very important advice to the selectors in regard to Pandya’s captaincy.
During an interview, Kapil Dev says that the BCCI and selectors should focus on their team and not look at other teams. If they are looking at Hardik Pandya as a long term option for captaincy, he shouldn’t be told that he will be removed from captaincy if they lose one series. The 1983 World Cup winning skipper states that if someone is made a skipper, he should be given enough chances to prove himself, he will surely make mistakes but the main point is not to focus on the mistakes but to ascertain whether he is ready to take up the responsibility or not.
Hardik Pandya has made a great comeback after injury and the manner in which he led his IPL team Gujarat Titans to victory the IPL 2022 in its debut season has also made everyone believe that he is capable of leading the Indian team but one area of concern is Hardik Pandya’s fitness. He has faced quite a few fitness issues in his career till date and what has made former cricketers more worried is the fact that nowadays he is bowling as well.
Is Hardik Pandya the right person for the Indian cricket team’s captaincy? What do you think? Let us know your views.
