Rohit Sharma led India to a famous win in the T20I World Cup 2024 in Barbados. He planted the Indian flag at the ground In Barbados as was promised by BCCI secretary Jay Shah a few months ago. And with him winning the World Cup, he announced his retirement from the format. Along with him , Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja also announced their retirements. A new era will start in this format for India In preparation for the 2026 World Cup which will be played in India and Sri Lanka.
Let’s look at the Contenders for the Captaincy for India in T20I Cricket
1) Hardik Pandya
The first and probably the most obvious T20I captaincy choice is Hardik Pandya. He was the vice captain of the cricket team that won the World Cup. He has been one of the best all rounders in the world. He has played 100 T20Is for India and he has made 1492 runs at a strike rate of 140.69. Hardik Pandya has also taken 84 Wickets for India at an average of 25.49. He has also captained Gujarat Titans to an IPL championship. In this T20I World Cup, Hardik Pandya scored 144 runs and took 11 Wickets for India. After the last 6 months that he has had where everyone was against him, for him to put up such an iconic performance was something which shows how tough he is mentally.
India
Hardik Pandya has captained India in 16 T20I Matches and 3 ODI Matches. He has won 10 T20I Matches and lost 5. In ODI Cricket he has won 2 out of the 3 Matches as captain.
IPL
He has captained 31 Matches for Gujarat Titans and he has won 22 of these Matches. For Mumbai Indians he has captained in 14 Matches in IPL 2024 and has won only 4 Matches.
2) Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is the best fast bowler in the world by a country mile. No other fast bowler is close to him. He has been a senior player for India. He has played 70 T20I Matches for India and he has taken 89 Wickets at an incredible average of 17.74 and an economy rate of 6.28. In the T20I World Cup 2024, Jasprit Bumrah took 15 Wickets in 8 Matches. He has an mind boggling economy rate of 4.17 which is staggering even in ODI Cricket and not that bad In Test Cricket either. He is a calm head and therefore he could shoulder the responsibility of being the captain.
Captaincy Stats:
India
Jasprit Bumrah has captained 1 Test Match and 2 T20IS for India. He won both his ODIs and lost the test match he captained for India.
3) Surya Kumar Yadav
The third candidate for the Captaincy of the Indian team for the T20I format is Surya Kumar Yadav. The former World number 1 batter is the best batter In the world. He has played 68 T20Is for India and he has scored 2340 runs at an average of 43.33. He has made 4 Hundreds in T20IS and he has a strike rate of 167.74. He made 199 runs in T20I World Cup 2024 at a strike rate of 135. He took the most important catch of David Miller in the last over to win the T20I World Cup for India.
Captaincy Stats:
India
Surya Kumar Yadav has captained 7 T20I Matches for India. He has won 5 of those Matches and lost 2 of these Matches as captain.
