Former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan became the latest cricketer to back the idea of a change in Team India’s T20I captaincy after Rohit Sharma failed to take the Men in Blue to the final of the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
The former pacer said that he is still in shock that the Indian cricket team suffered a 10-wicket defeat against England in the semi-final. Following India’s disappointing exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup, many have suggested Hardik Pandya’s name to replace Rohit as India’s T20I captain.
Wassan also said that Pandya would be a great choice for the T20I captaincy. However, apart from Pandya, he also felt Rishabh Pant could take on the responsibility, as the young wicketkeeper has also had experience leading the Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
Atul Wassan said on ABP News, “I still can’t believe what happened and am in complete shock. I had the impression that England batted in Sharjah and India in Adelaide.”
He continued, “I think Rohit’s tenure as India’s T20 captain is over. You should always make plans for the period between two World Cups, and I don’t believe Indian cricket will benefit from retaining him as captain. A return on such an investment is not possible.”
However, Wassan insisted that it would be unfair to put complete blame on Rohit for India’s failure at the T20 World Cup 2022, as the decisions were not only taken by the skipper.
He signed off by saying, “We saw cricketers at two different levels. A minimum of something ought to have occurred. Even that is hard to blame. In my opinion, you shouldn’t blame the captaincy. After all, all decisions were made by the team management. A single call was not taken by Rohit. He simply chose where to hide on the field.”
India will play a three-match T20I series and a three-match ODI series against New Zealand. While Pandya will lead the T20I unit, Shikhar Dhawan has been chosen to captain the ODI team.
