Cricket News: Hardik Pandya selected as Vice Captain?
Time changes everything, and it has shown its effect on the Indian team, from clouds of doubt hovering over Virat Kohli's form to making perfect sense for all-rounder Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya: Vice Captain for Team India ?The all-rounder was dropped and forced to take a break due to his back injury, and now reports of him being appointed as permanent vice-captain ahead of KL Rahul of the Indian T20 side are making noise.
After winning IPL 2022, Pandya is on the road to Captaincy.
He was appointed vice-captain for the South Africa series at home and named the side's captain for the Ireland tour. Acing his leadership role and with KL Rahul struggling with injury, Hardik Pandya is all set for a more prominent promotion.
According to a source, Hardik Pandya is all set to be announced as vice-captain for the T20 World Cup. The squad for the tournament will be announced on 15th September 2022.
"Hardik is a world-class player and it's great to have him back in the team at full fitness. Whether he will be named vice-captain is up to the selectors. But he is already a leader in the group. As an all-rounder, he understands both situations. He has outstanding leadership skills and we saw that in the IPL. He will surely do well," a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
Is Pant out of the Captaincy race now?
Before Hardik Pandya's impressive title-winning comeback via IPL 2022, in the absence of KL Rahul or Rohit Sharma, the young wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant was being groomed for the role. He was handed his first assignment of leading the side against South Africa, in which he was hammered with a 7-wicket defeat.
When India went to England for a test match and T20 series, Indian team management was focused on Rishabh Pant as vice-captain. Pant took India to win the series with his impressive batting skills.
Looking at his capabilities as skipper for Delhi Capitals in IPL and performance in international cricket, former Indian player Saba Karim said, "Pant is a special player and has match-winning abilities. I believe that he can emerge as a big player for India in all three formats. Looking at his performances in overseas, yes we can say that he is a possible candidate for the next captain."
The difference between Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant's captaincy skills is starkly evident. Pant seems to struggle with a bat under captaincy pressure, whereas Pandya looks like relishing the role. Rishabh Pant's minute errors in a short captaincy stint invited heavy criticism, which got over-powered when Pandya aced the same position.
Rishabh Pant has a lot to learn and improve for the role with time, and with Hardik Pandya given the part of vice-captain under Rohit Sharma, it will directly imply that in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya will be entitled to the captaincy role.