Things have taken a drastic turn in the Indian cricket. It was only six months ago that they won the Men’s T20 World Cup and ended the 11-year ICC Trophy drought. The Rohit Sharma-led side seemed to be on top of the world.
Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach and started his tenure with a 3-0 win against Sri Lanka in T20Is. But India suffered a loss to Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series which was considered an aberration before they thrashed Bangladesh 2-0 in a Test series at home. However, after that, nothing seems to have gone right for Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and co.
They suffered a Test series defeat at home after 12 long years and were whitewashed 0-3 at home for the first time in the history of Test cricket. New Zealand recorded that historic series win.
India flew to Australia and won the first Test in Perth which was captained by Jasprit Bumrah as Rohit was away on paternity leave. Once the latter returned, India lost two and drew one Test.
The 37-year-old decided to “opt-out” of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. That came as big news as he has not officially retired. If that wasn’t enough, there are new reports emerging that he could even be sacked as the ODI captain.
According to a report on My Khel, it is understood that the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) have started exploring captaincy options in the 50-over format. It is learned that if Rohit’s form doesn’t get better, he could lose his captaincy in ODI cricket as well.
He has scored just 164 runs in his last 15 Test innings while averaging 10.93. However, he was India’s best batter in the ODI series in Sri Lanka where he made 157 runs in three games at a strike-rate of 141.44.
Hence, the report adds that the BCCI may opt for someone like Hardik Pandya as captain to relieve the burden on Rohit. “Hardik [Pandya] has the knack for leading in high-pressure situations, and his experience as an all-rounder and leader makes him an ideal choice for an ICC tournament like the Champions Trophy,” a source was quoted saying to MyKhel.
Hardik Pandya’s captaincy record
Hardik has been around the leadership group and has led India in both white-ball formats. He has captained India in 16 T20Is and had a win-loss record of 10-5 (one tie). He has even led India in three ODIs in 2023, winning two and losing one.
Pandya was in the race to become India’s full-time T20I captain as well after Rohit retired in June last year. However, his fitness concerns went against him and the selectors realized the importance of his all-round ability which adds more balance to the team.
The Baroda seam-bowling all-rounder has also captained in the IPL in the last three years. He led the Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in 2022 before they reached the final again in 2023. However, he made the switch to Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2024 where the five-team IPL champions finished last.
