Ex-India opener Sunil Gavaskar picks THIS star player to replace Rohit as ODI captain after 2023 World Cup

The 2023 ICC ODI World Cup is scheduled to be held in India later this year and former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar says that India will have a change of captaincy after the marquee event.

The ex-India opener, while talking to Star Sports, has predicted that all-rounder Hardik Pandya will succeed Rohit Sharma as the next skipper.

"What you see with Hardik Pandya as a captain is a sense of comfort with the rest of the team. Maybe, it’s the way he handles the players, puts his arm around the players. He just seems to give the players a sense of comfort. That’s so important to give a player a sense of comfort so that he can go and play his natural game. I think he encourages them, which is a wonderful sign," said Gavaskar.

While Rohit Sharma is set to lead the Indian side in the World Cup, Hardik Pandya will lead India in the first ODI against Australia in Mumbai on March 17. Rohit will be back to lead the side in the next two matches of the three-match series on March 19 and 22 in Vishakhapatnam and Chennai, respectively.

Hardik has impressed everyone with his captaincy after he led the IPL side Gujarat Titans to victory in their maiden season in 2022 and subsequently led India in a few limited-overs matches.

"I have been very impressed with his captaincy at the T20 level for the Gujarat Titans and for India when he is captaining the T20 side. I do believe that if he wins the first game in Mumbai, then you can almost stamp him as the India captain once the World Cup is over in 2023,' added Gavaskar.

Notably, Rohit had taken over the white-ball captaincy from Virat Kohli in December 2021 and took over as the red-ball captain in 2022 after Kohli quit following a seven-year long stint.

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