Former batsman Mohammad Kaif has thrown his help behind Hardik Pandya after the allrounder was snubbed for Staff India’s T20I captaincy.
With Rohit Sharma retiring from T20Is final month following the victory within the T20 World Cup, Hardik Pandya was anticipated to take cost of the workforce. The star allrounder was the vice-captain of the workforce in the course of the T20 World Cup and his spectacular all-round shows solely strengthened his case to be the brand new India T20I captain.
He carried out with each bat and ball all through the competitors as India clinched the T20 World Cup after a niche of 17 years. With the bat, he scored 144 runs at a strike charge of over 150 and a mean of 48. With the ball, he picked up 11 wickets together with the essential wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller within the World Cup ultimate.
Nonetheless, the selectors and the workforce administration determined towards handing him the everlasting captaincy and handed the duty to Suryakumar Yadav. As per media reviews, one of many primary causes behind not appointing Hardik Pandya because the captain was his poor observe report with accidents.
Mohammad Kaif on Hardik Pandya not getting captaincy:
The BCCI’s determination to not give Hardik Pandya the T20I captaincy has shocked many together with Mohammad Kaif. The previous India batsman has mentioned that whereas Suryakumar Yadav is an effective selection for captaincy, the selectors and the workforce administration ought to have backed Hardik Pandya due to his prior expertise in main T20 sides.
“Hardik has captained the Gujarat Titans for two years and of their first yr itself, they made it to the ultimate… Hardik has expertise captaining the T20I aspect. He was additionally the vice-captain on the T20 World Cup. Now, a brand new coach has arrived, there will probably be new planning.
“Surya can be a superb participant, he has been enjoying for years. He’s a no.1 T20 participant, I hope he’ll shoulder the captain’s duty nicely. However, I really feel they need to have backed Hardik…” Kaif completely instructed IANS.
“Gambhir is the skilled captain and coach… He understands cricket very nicely. I feel ‘Hardik ne aisa koi galat kaam nhi kia ki unko captaincy na mile’ (Hardik has not accomplished something fallacious that he mustn’t get the captaincy),” he added.
Pandya does have ample expertise in main the workforce. He has led Staff India in each the white-ball codecs up to now and has captained IPL groups as nicely. In 2022, he led the Gujarat Titans to the IPL trophy earlier than taking them to the ultimate in 2023. On this yr’s IPL, he was main Mumbai Indians though he couldn’t do nicely as a captain. He has additionally led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is to this point.
“He has expertise, has captained within the IPL and main a brand new workforce (Gujarat Titans) to trophy, with contemporary and younger faces, is a big factor. He has made the Titans win by working from Floor Zero within the IPL…I feel he was entitled to the captaincy. So let’s simply wait and see,” he mentioned.