Srikkanth wants Hardik Pandya as India T20I captain; Irfan differs

Former India opening batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth wants all-rounder Hardik Pandya to be appointed as India’s T20I captain in order to prepare for the next T20 World Cup in 2024 in the Caribbean and the US.

India exited at the semi-final stage of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Now, the team is in New Zealand for a bilateral limited-overs series. Pandya is the stand-in skipper for T20Is as Rohit Sharm is rested.

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Former chairman of the BCCI selection committee Srikkanth spoke to Star Sports on the road for India ahead of the T20 World Cup in 2024.

He said, “See if I was the chairman of the selection committee, I would say that Hardik Pandya should be the captain for 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.”

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“You start from today, the preparation for the World Cup, you need to understand, starts two years in advance. 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,” he added.

On the same channel, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, however, disagreed with Srikkanth. He pointed out Pandya’s injury issues.

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“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,” Pathan explained.

Pathan said India needs to have a group of leaders. “So, what I personally think is that Hardik Pandya is a leader who has done very well for the Gujarat Titians and won the IPL. 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.”

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop said India has the talent to win the World Cup and it was just a matter of choosing the right personnel at the right time. “I think the talent is there to win the World Cup, it’s just a matter of picking the right people at the right time, there’s just too much talent available.”