If I was the chairman of the selection committee, I would say that Hardik Pandya should be the captain of the 2024 World Cup: Kris Srikkanth

Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth made a strong statement that he would pick Hardik Pandya as the successor of Rohit Sharma for captaincy in T20Is. India could not get past England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 and were knocked out in a humiliating way. The defeat also showed the conservative approach India tend to go with in T20Is and there has been a lot of talk about youngsters filling up the spots.

Skipper Rohit will turn 37 by the next T20 World Cup in 2024 and a new captain is expected to be groomed in two years' time. Hardik already has captaincy experience. He led India during the T20I tour to Ireland and was quite successful apart from his impressive captaincy debut for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. The all-rounder has been named to lead India in the upcoming T20I tour of New Zealand and all eyes will be on him. 

Start rebuilding a side right from today, that is from the New Zealand series: Kris Srikkanth 

Srikkanth, who was part of the 1983 World Cup winning team and also a former selector, noted that he would have no doubts over appointing Hardik as the skipper in T20Is straight away if he was the chairman of selectors. He also highlighted the importance of rebuilding the side through any possible ways from the New Zealand tour and wants the World Cup team ready by 2023 to keep the standards intact.  

“See if I was the chairman of the selection committee, I would say that Hardik Pandya should be the captain of the 2024 World Cup, straight away, I had put it that way – number one,” Kris Srikkanth told on Match Point show on Star Sports. 

"And start rebuilding a side right from today, that is from the New Zealand series which is going to happen in a weeks' time. You start from today, the preparation for the World Cup, you need to understand, start two years in advance. So, you do whatever you want to do, the trial and error policy, do whatever you want, try it for one year, then you form a team and by 2023 make sure this is going to be at the level that is going to play the World Cup," he added.