Former coach Ravi Shastri picks Hardik Pandya to be India's next T20I captain

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri says that Hardik Pandya is going to be India's next T20I captain in the long run and the change could come as soon as after the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Shastri opined that, "the next two World Cups [after the ODI WC] are T20 cricket. He's already [standby] captain of India [in T20Is], so he will continue unless he is not fit. I think they [the selectors] will look into a new direction. There's a lot of talent among the youth at the moment. You might have a pretty much new team; there will be some new faces if not a new team."

Shastri explained his logic behind the selection of Hardik as skipper and evoked MS Dhoni's appointment as skipper in 2007 as an example.

"I feel they will go the 2007 route, where they will identify talent, and Hardik will have lots of choices when it comes to the selection," Shastri said. "Because his ideas will be different; he has played the IPL as a captain of a franchise and seen a lot of the other players. He will have his inputs," said Shastri.

When asked about the workload management issue, Shastri was clear about it as he said that Panday isn't playing all three formats so it shouldn't be a problem.

"It is not that he is playing three formats. "Everything now is separate. You have Test matches, so the moment a Test series comes, he gets a corridor of a month to rest and recuperate. He is supremely confident about his own ability. The fact that he is fully fit now makes a massive difference. Form plays an important role. When he is fit, then he is arguably one of the best T20 players in the world."

Notably, many of India's current superstars like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are in their late thrities and with not many years left ahead of them, India definitely need to look for options.

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