Hardik Pandya’s captaincy stocks went through the roof after he led Gujarat Titans to the Indian Premier League title in 2022. He was subsequently handed the captaincy of the Indian T20I team from the 2022 Ireland tour onwards, as regular captain Rohit Sharma missed 20-over internationals after the T20 World Cup last year. The Baroda all-rounder did a commendable job with the Indian T20 team and remained unbeaten for over a year until West Indies halted his progress in the recently-concluded five-match T20I series.
India lost 2-3 against Rovman Powell’s men and Hardik was criticised for some of his unorthodox tactics which did not work for the ‘Men in Blue’. Interestingly, a year later, a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah was given the responsibility of leading the T20I side against Ireland. The star pacer returned from a lower-back stress fracture and picked up a couple of wickets in his first over against Ireland in the first T20I. He was also quite proactive in his captaincy and helped India win the match by two runs via DLS method. This was certainly a promising white-ball captaincy debut for Bumrah.
Meanwhile, as per The Times of India report, it seems that Bumrah might replace his former Mumbai Indians teammate Hardik as the vice-captain of the Indian ODI side ahead of the Asia Cup and the World Cup. The senior men’s selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, is set to meet in New Delhi on August 21 to finalise India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023, and many are expecting that the same squad with minor changes will play World Cup later this year.
It is important to note that Hardik captained India in a couple of matches during the ODI series against the West Indies. Rohit Sharma led India to a win in the first ODI before opting to sit out of the remaining two games, allowing deputy Hardik to lead the team. India lost the second ODI under Pandya but came back strongly to win the final one to take the series 2-1. However, a disappointing performance in the T20I series may cost Hardik the role of vice-captaincy in white-ball cricket, with Bumrah being the frontrunner to take over.
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