There aren’t many athletes with this incredible ability to recover from adversity, but if a list of cricketers were to be compiled with this trait, just one name would be included: Hardik Pandya.
Following his recovery from his Asia Cup injury, the Ace All-Rounder enjoyed an incredible run. His ability to lead Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 championship is the ultimate accomplishment.
Shastri has stated in interviews with several media sites that BCCI should designate Hardik Pandya the permanent captain of India’s T20I team and that he should guide them throughout the game’s shortest format.
Shastri stated that India should follow the 2007 strategy, which was attributed with MS Dhoni’s enormous success.
Pandya possess the same triats and he is prepared to lead India full time across T20I format
“He (Pandya) is already captain of India so he will continue unless he is not fit,” Shastri told ESPNcricinfo. “I think they (selectors) will (move in new direction). There is a lot of talent in the youth at the moment. We might have a new team. There will be some new faces. What we have seen here in this year’s IPL is some refreshing young talent.”
“Now I think they (BCCI) will go the 2007 route, where they will identify the talent and he (Pandya) will have a choice. His ideas are different. He has played the IPL, is a captain and has seen other players,” Shastri said.
“A captain should be someone who captains his state. You become a Test match captain through Ranji Trophy. Similarly, IPL is the Ranji Trophy or first-class cricket. It’s your biggest domestic tournament and it has international flavour to it to check the temperament of a player against good opponent. The quality is far better and take all that into consideration and see who is leading which franchise and who is doing well,” Shastri said.
Don’t even think of T20 World Cup till the ODI World Cup is over. After that you have enough time,” Shastri said.
“No really,” Shastri on whether Pandya’s workload management is a challenge. “October is the World Cup, they don’t play any cricket after the IPL. Probably there will be 4-5 matches before the World Cup. It’s not like he’s playing three formats. Everything now is separate. The moment Test series comes, he gets a corridor for a month to rest.” Shastri concluded.
Based on reports in different media outlets, It is stated that post 2023 World Cup, Rohit Sharma will handle the captaincy for Test and ODI format whereas T20I captaincy will be given to Pandya. It will interesting to see how this regime change will happen if it actually happens in future.
