Former Indian cricketer-turned-politician Harbhajan Singh has called for a change in the leadership set-up, especially in T20I cricket, after Team India’s embarrassing exit from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
The Indian team suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the second semi-final against England on Thursday (November 10) in Adelaide, ensuring their empty-handed return from Australia.
Following India’s shocking exit from the T20 World Cup 2022, Harbhajan suggested that Hardik Pandya and Aashish Nehra—the pair who won the IPL 2022 title for Gujarat Titans—should replace Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid as captain and coach, respectively, of the Indian T20I team.
Harbhajan Singh told India Today: “It’s not just the captain. If you can bring someone who has just retired from T20 cricket recently, someone who understands the format. You know, with all due respect to Rahul Dravid, he was my colleague and we played a lot of cricket together, he has a great brain.”
However, the commentator said that it can be too harsh to remove Dravid, so the team can hire Nehra or someone else who recently retired from T20I cricket for assistance, as it can help the team.
The former Indian spinner continued, “But I think if you don’t want to remove Dravid from T20I as a coach then help him with someone who has recently retired. Someone like Ashish Nehra has got a great cricketing brain. Look what he has done there at Gujarat Titans.”
He signed off by saying, “It will also encourage the young guys with what Ashish will bring into the team. It could also be anyone, who just retired. For captaincy, Hardik Pandya is my choice. There is no better choice. He is the best player in the team and you need more people like him in the team.”
