Former India cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth feels Hardik Pandya should be India’s captain at the 2024 T20 World Cup. India crashed out of the recently concluded 2022 T20 World Cup, losing to England in the finals. Following their embarrassing loss, several questions have been raised regarding the senior players, including the captain, Rohit Sharma. Several former cricketers have opined that Hardik Pandya should lead India in the next T20 World Cup.
The all-rounder’s stocks in international cricket have gained massively after his heroics for the Gujarat Titans in the 2022 Indian Premier League. He led the Titans from the front to lift their maiden Indian Premier League in their debut season. After the championship win, Hardik made a comeback to the Indian white-ball team. He also led the Indian team against Ireland earlier this year, and will again take up leadership duties against New Zealand.
Former India cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth expressed that Hardik Pandya should lead India at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Speaking on the Star Sports show ‘Match Point’, he said,
“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 had 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. 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,” he added.
Need more fast-ball all-rounders: Krishnamachari Srikkanth
Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth further added that Team India needs more fast-bowling all-rounders. He expressed that all of India’s ICC World Cup trophies came when the team India had good fast-bowling and semi-all-rounders. Krishnamachari Srikkanth said,
“You need more fast-ball all-rounders. Let’s see, the 1983 World Cup, 2011 World Cup, and 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 (Deepak) Hooda, like Hooda, there are going to be so many more Hooda’s.”
Team India will tour New Zealand for a limited-overs series, starting with the three-match T20I series on Friday, November 18 at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. They will also play three ODIs against New Zealand.
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