After India’s defeat in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, plenty of questions have been asked regarding Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, and while the 36-year-old will continue to lead the Indian team during the tour of West Indies, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri feels Hardik Pandya should be the next white-ball captain.
The Indian team will kick-start their WTC 2023-25 cycle under Rohit’s captaincy, with a two-match Test series slated to kick-start on July 12. The BCCI announced India’s squad on Friday, June 23, with Ajinkya Rahane promoted as vice-captain.
Shastri meanwhile stated that the ‘Hitman’ should lead India during the ODI World Cup, but after that, he feels Pandya could take over as full-time captain in ODI and T20I cricket.
Hardik has been leading the T20I side with Rohit rested from the shorter format since the T20 World Cup last year, owing to his workload. The ex-India coach also stated that Pandya’s body may not be able to cope with Test cricket, so he should ideally stick to white-ball formats.
“Let’s be clear. His body (Hardik) cannot cope with Test cricket. After the World Cup, I feel he should take over captaincy in white-ball cricket. Rohit should lead India in the World Cup, no question there,” Shastri told The Week.
The legendary cricketer turned commentator also opined on Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness, warning the BCCI to not rush the star pacer back into action ahead of the ODI World Cup, citing the example of star Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi.
“He (Bumrah) is a very important cricketer. But if you rush him for the World Cup then you might lose him for four months later on, much like Shaheen Afridi. So there’s a thin line and it needs to be thought about,” Shastri added.
It has been reported by Cricketnext previously that Bumrah could return during the T20I series against Ireland.
The star pacer has been out of action since last September, having only recovered from a back issue to suffer another major setback which would rule him out of the T20 World Cup.
Since then, Bumrah has undergone surgery on his back in New Zealand and the BCCI has been tight-lipped on his road to recovery.
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