Former India pacer Zaheer Khan has voiced that Rohit Sharma will likely retain India’s captaincy for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. India were on a phenomenal run in the 2023 Cricket World Cup, making it to the final undefeated. The Rohit-led side failed to make it past the finish line, losing to a dominant Australian side in the final. Despite this failure, Zaheer said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see Rohit continue as captain for the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2024.
“The T20 World Cup is just around the corner…you have to go in with experience. You will have to give that preference to the experienced guy, and I will not be surprised if they decide to go ahead with Rohit Sharma himself,” Zaheer told Cricbuzz.
While explaining his take further in the interview, Zaheer said that Rohit Sharma has been around for a while and knows how to handle different situations. “He [Rohit Sharma] understands handling situations, handling pressure and all those kinds of aspects”, Zaheer said.
He did say that the choice for T20 World Cup captaincy is most likely going to be between the current Indian skipper and Hardik Pandya who has led India in T20Is during Rohit’s absence from the squad. “It’s either going to be Rohit Sharma or, depending on how Hardik goes about his rehab, his comeback,” he noted.
Under Rohit’s captaincy, India have witnessed some heartbreaking runs in ICC tournaments this year. The team lost the ICC World Test Championship final against Australia earlier this year at The Oval. India lost that match by 209 runs as Travis Head smashed 163 runs for his side for the victory. The Men in Blue made a solid comeback in the Asia Cup later, beating Sri Lanka in the final by 10 wickets to secure continental glory. They looked in prime form to bag their third-ever World Cup trophy but once again succumbed to Australia in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India had dominated the tournament on all fronts, winning the most number of games. Virat Kohli racked up the most runs in the tournament and Mohammed Shami finished with the most wickets. Rohit also had a phenomenal campaign as he knocked 597 runs in the tournament, but it just wasn’t enough to secure the ultimate prize.
Rohit is currently on an international break while Hardik Pandya continues to recover from an ankle injury that he sustained during the 2023 World Cup at home. In their absence, Suryakumar Yadav has been leading India in the five-match T20I series against Australia. He has done a pretty good job so far, leading India to back-to-back victories in the first two games of the series.
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