"Selectors will look into a new direction, I think Hardik will lead": Ravi Shastri on India's T20 captaincy
May 12, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra)[India], May 12 : Former Indian Head coach and cricketer Ravi Shastri feels that Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya should lead the Indian cricket team in next year's T20 World Cup.
At present, Rohit Sharma is leading the Indian team in all three formats but he has missed a lot of action in the shortest format of the cricket.
Apart from Indian Premier League, Sharma last featured in the T20I format in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
KL Rahul is suffering from an injury. He served as Rohit's deputy in the 2022 T20 World Cup and also played his last T20I match in that tournament.
In the absence of the two players, India played eight T20I matches and Hardik has led the team to five victories out of those eight matches.
"Everyone can qualify to play, but I think Hardik will lead," Shastri said, according to ESPNcricinfo.
"The next two World Cups [after the 2023 ODI World Cup] are T20 cricket. He's already [standby T20I] captain of India, so he will continue unless he is not fit. I think they [the selectors] will look into a new direction. There's a lot of talent among the youth at the moment. You might have a pretty much new team, there'll be some new faces if not a new team."
"There will be still plenty who played in the last T20I match that India played, but there will be some new faces because what we've seen here in this year's IPL is some refreshing young talent.
"Now I feel they will go the 2007 route, where they will identify talent and Hardik will have a big choice when it comes to the selection," Shastri said.
"Because his ideas will be different; he has played the IPL as a captain of a franchise and seen a lot of the other players. And he'll have his inputs."
Shastri also talked about the importance of conversation with senior players.
"Because he is the guy who is going to take the guys out on the park. Whatever he says has to be given importance and listened to.
"It is not that he is playing three formats. Everything now is separate. You have Test matches, so the moment a Test series comes, he gets a corridor of a month to rest and recuperate. He is supremely confident about his own ability. The fact that he is fully fit now makes a massive difference. Form plays an important role. When he is fit, then he is arguably one of the best T20 players in the world," Shastri concluded.
