T20 World Cup | Poster featuring Hardik Pandya sparks row over Indian captaincy
It led to intense speculation on social media whether the post confirmed Rohit’s replacement by the all-rounder for the T20I leadership role
Even as there is no official word from the BCCI on who will lead the Team India in the 2024 T20 World Cup in June, a particular poster on the much-anticipated tournament has sparked a furore amid the Indian cricket followers on the social media.
The ICC on Friday unveiled the fixtures of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies. The event will be held from June 1 to 29 and India will kick off their campaign against Ireland in New York on June 5 before taking on the arch rivals Pakistan at the same venue on June 9. India also have hosts USA and Canada in the same group.
Rohit on ICC poster
Soon after the announcement, the event’s official broadcaster Star Sports came out with a poster on the India-Pakistan clash with the images of Pakistan’s new skipper Shaheen Afridi and India’s Hardik Pandya.
The poster triggered chaos on social media with the users speculating whether the post confirmed Rohit’s replacement by the all-rounder for the T20I leadership role. Incidentally, Hardik has been leading the side in Rohit’s absence from the format since 2022 T20I World Cup. "Why Hardik Pandya in the poster? How do you know that he will be the captain?" wrote one of the users on X. "How come you have shown pic of Hardik as Captain when officially Rohit is still India's T20 Captain. This is not correct," wrote another.
However, the ICC also released a poster announcing the fixtures of the tournament and it featured Rohit Sharma along with skippers of other cricketing nations.
Out of action
Notably, the veteran opener has been out of action in T20 format since November 2022, when India suffered a semifinal exit against England in Australia. While Rohit, along with Virat Kohli, chose to focus on the ODIs with the 50-over World Cup in 2023, the duo didn’t return to the slam bang format after the tournament ended in November. They missed the five-match series against Australia at home and the three-match contest in South Africa. Suryakumar Yadav had led the side as Hardik was out with an ankle injury.
Though the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee of the BCCI is yet to finalise the squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, it would be interesting to see whether Kohli and Rohit will be picked for the series. It has been reported earlier that both of them are keen to play in the T20I World Cup in June.