Ravi Shastri, former India coach and captain, has suggested that the incumbent T20 captain Hardik Pandya would play a pivotal role in the selection of the squad for the next T20 World Cup in 2024.
“The T20 World Cup is coming up and there is lot of talent among youth,” said Shastri in a chat on ESPNCricinfo. “This year’s IPL, we have seen some refreshing new talent. There will be new faces, not a new team. He (Hardik) is already captain of India, so he will continue unless he is not fit.”
Shastri stressed on the parallels with 2007, when MS Dhoni led a team of relative unknowns to glory in the inaugural World T20. “Now they would go the 2007 T20 World Cup route and identify talent,” said Shastri. “He (Hardik) will have big choice and his ideas will be different. He would have played IPL, and seen a lot of other players as an IPL captain.
“Obviously, he is the man who is going to take these guys out on the park, no one else, so whatever he says has to be given importance. October is the (ODI) World Cup. They don’t play any cricket after the IPL, probably four or five matches. It’s not that he is playing three formats. You have Test matches and the moment a Test series come (around), he gets a corridor of a month to rest.”