Former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar feels that a few senior Indian players might announce their retirement following India’s 10-wicket loss against England in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final.
Sunil Gavaskar Praises Hardik Pandya
Gavaskar also feels that Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya will take over the reins of captaincy once Rohit Sharma steps down.
“Having won the Indian Premier League on his first assignment as the captain, they would have marked Hardik Pandya out as the next captain,” the former India captain said on Star Sports.
“Hardik Pandya will definitely take over the team in the future and there will be some retirements, you never know. Players will be giving it a lot of thought.
“There are several players in their mid-30s who will be reconsidering their position in the Indian T20I team.” England hammered India by 10 wickets with Alex Hales and Jos Buttler striking commanding half-centuries.
While Virat Kohli has been the highest scorer in this World Cup, it has been a disappointing outing for other senior players such as skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Dinesh Karthik, who are in their mid-30s.
Winning the toss England choose to field first where Indian openers failed to lay the expected foundation where India loses their first wicket for 9 runs.
Soon after KL Rahul’s dismissal, Rohit too lost his wicket for 27 runs while the much-expected Suryakumar Yadav scored just 14 runs and returned to Pavillion. Post the top order failure, Hardik and Virat Kohli joined hands and scored a 61 runs partnership which leads India to score 168 runs at the end of the 20 overs.
After the loss, India skipper Rohit Sharma pointed out the reasons behind the loss. On the other hand, England scored the target without losing a wicket where Jos Buttler scored 80 runs while Alex Hales scored 86 runs.
Hardik Pandya scored 128 runs at a strike rate of 131.95 and bagged 8 wickets in this tournament.
Post the World Cup defeat India will tour New Zealand where they will play 3 T20I matches and as many as ODI matches between November 13 to November 30.
England will now face Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 final on November 13 at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.
