Rajkot: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah put an end to speculation on who would skipper Team India in the upcoming T20I World Cup by saying that he is confident of India lifting the title under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
“We may have lost the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. But we won hearts thereby winning 10 matches in a row. I would like to say that I am confident that India will lift the 2024 T20 World Cup under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy at Barbados,” Shah said during his address at the event to rename the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium to Niranjan Shah Stadium.
He disclosed this in the presence of India captain Rohit, coach Rahul Dravid and chairman of men’s senior selection committee Ajit Agarkar.
After the event was over, Shah gave further insight into the decision to give the captaincy baton to Rohit for the T20 World Cup.
“Rohit was captaining and he came back for the Afghanistan series after a year, which means we were going to let him continue,” he said.
Rohit had missed T20Is for 14 months but returned to play T20I series against Afghanistan. He had a poor start in the first two matches but cracked a brilliant 121* in the third T20I.
Shah further explained, “In the third T20I against Afghanistan, India were 22/4 and the way Rohit Sharma took the team to 212/4, we can’t question much about him, right? He has the ability, as I said, we won ten games in the ODI World Cup. We didn’t win the final, but it’s part and parcel of the game. Whoever plays better, wins.”
Shah said Hardik Pandya will be the vice-captain. “When Hardik was injured in the World Cup, who else can we give the captaincy?” he asked.
