IND vs NZ: Irfan Pathan Highlights Risk In Making Hardik Pandya Captain For 2024 T20 World Cup

To discuss the team’s performance at the T20 World Cup, the BCCI will meet with coach Rahul Dravid, captain Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli. India’s full-time T20 captain is expected to be Hardik Pandya who is travelling to New Zealand for his first assignment.

Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, advanced to the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinals before losing to England in the semifinals due to a lackluster effort.

Kris Srikkanth Wants Hardik Pandya To Lead The Side In the 2024 T20 World Cup

K Srikkanth, a former opening batsman for India, has stated that Hardik Pandya should captain the team for the 2024 World Cup, which would be held in the USA and the West Indies. 

“See if I was the Chairman of the selection committee, I would say that Hardik Pandya should be the captain of the 2024 World Cup, straight away, I’d put it that way – number one.

And start rebuilding a side right from today, that is from the New Zealand series which is going to happen in a weeks’ time. You start from today, the preparation for the World cup, you need to understand, starts 2 years in advance,” Srikkanth said on Star Sports’ show ‘Match Point’. 

“So, you do whatever you want to do, the trial-and-error policy, do whatever you want, try it for one year, then you form a team and by 2023 make sure this is going to be at the level that is going to play the World Cup. And as both Bish and Irfan pointed out, you need more fast-ball all-rounders.

Let’s see, 1983 World Cup, 2011 World Cup, 2007 T20 World Cup, why did we win? We had many fast-ball all-rounders and semi all-rounders. So, to identify these guys – guys like Hooda, there are going to be so many more Hoodas,” he added. 

We Also Need To Have A Group Of Leaders: Irfan Pathan

Irfan Pathan, a former all-rounder for India, stressed the value of having a squad full of leaders who can move the team forward. 

“So, I’m not saying that if you change the captain, you change the result, if you go like that, you’re not going to change the result. And with Hardik Pandya, you need to understand, we all need to understand, that he’s a fast-bowling all-rounder.

He has injury issues as well. What if he is your captain who is getting injured right before the World cup? And if you don’t have any other leader ready, you’ll be in a mess,” said Pathan. 

“So, what I personally think is that Hardik Pandya is a leader, who has done very well in the Gujarat Titians, won IPL, won the championship trophy.

You need to find not one, but two leaders going forward to build their mark. You know just like we talk about openers – we need to have a group of openers, we also need to have a group of leaders,” he added. 

Next, India will play three T20 Internationals and as many ODIs against New Zealand. Hardik Pandya will lead the team in the shortest format, while Shikhar Dhawan, a seasoned veteran, would lead the team in ODIs. 

Also Read:PAK vs ENG: “The Maturity That He Has Been Showing Is Absolutely Fantastic”- Sunil Gavaskar Hails Sam Curran