Irfan Pathan explained the risk of giving Hardik Pandya the T20I captaincy.
After Team India’s disappointing exit from the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2022, there have been calls for change in the leadership as another year passed without winning an ICC trophy.
The Indian cricket team was eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia after an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat in the semi-finals against eventual winner England.
Amid the debate on who should lead India in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be played in the Caribbean and the USA, former opener Kris Srikkanth and 2007 T20 World Cup-winning all-rounder Irfan Pathan shared their views on the debate.
While Srikkanth advocated the notion of appointing Hardik Pandya as full-time India T20I captain and starting to rebuild a side for the next T20 World Cup, Pathan said he is unsure about the suggestion, saying that India needs at least two leaders who can take the team forward.
Kris Srikkanth said on Star Sports' show 'Match Point': “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.”
He continued, “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.”
Meanwhile, Irfan Pathan said on the same show, “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.”
He signed off by saying, “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.”
(Star Sports inputs)