India’s next ODI and T20I Captain: Hardik Pandya is expected to take over as the captain of the ODI and T20I teams, bringing about yet another significant change for the Indian cricket team soon.
According to media reports, Hardik will take Rohit Sharma’s place, Rohit Sharma’s fitness has been questioned over the past year. In addition to being absent from the current Test series against Bangladesh, Rohit has missed numerous games due to fitness issues.
Hardik, on the other hand, since his return to international cricket in June, Hardik has been a regular and only plays white-ball cricket.
Pandya established his leadership skills earlier this year when he led the Gujarat Titans to an IPL championship, and he was currently in the lead for the T20I captaincy. It appears that he might soon be given full control of the white-ball teams. The BCCI is awaiting word from Pandya regarding his availability to play in both formats.
Rohit Sharma’s performance as India’s Captain
Following the 2021 T20 World Cup, Rohit assumed the T20I captaincy to begin the home series against New Zealand. In December 2021, he succeeded Virat Kohli as the ODI captain. However, Rohit was unable to captain the Men in Blue in his first ODI series because he wasn’t able to travel to South Africa because of an injury. He skipped the Test series as well.
He was injured at the time of rescheduled final test match of last year’s India versus England test series, which Inida lost.
He missed West Indies ODIs, played in T20I series, missed Zimbabwe tour to prepare himself for Asia Cup 2022. But, India’s campaign under him ended on a heart-breaking note, as Inida failed to reach the finals after losing to both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super four stage.
The biggest shock India suffered under him was once again not been able to lift the ICC trophy.
India failed to win T20 World Cup 2022 under Rohit Sharma
India’s loss to England in Adelaide again prompted questions about the nation’s cautious batting strategy by the top three batsmen as well as the efficacy of their bowling attack on favourable batting pitches, despite the fact that reaching the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinals is an improvement over their group-stage exit last time.
The future of Captain Rohit Sharma is also up for debate. Sharma performed poorly defensively throughout the competition as well as offensively (with an average of 19 and a strike rate of 106) and several of his decisions regarding bowling changes drew criticism.
After Kohli resigned, Rohit was also appointed Test captain, but due to his fitness issues, he has only been in charge of the team for two home Test matches. Due to a positive COVID-19 test, Rohit was unable to play in the lone Test against England. He sustained a thumb injury in the second One-Day International against Bangladesh and is out of the current Test series.
Pandya has never led a team in List A. He has led Team India to 4 victories in 5 T20 Internationals. India’s white-ball teams will play their next match on January 3 against Sri Lanka, and the teams for the series will be revealed by the end of the following week.
