Who will be the next T20I Captain of India: Right after the announcement of the India T20I squad for the West Indies tour 2023, many questions start to rise regarding “Who will be the next T20I Captain of India”.
India is set to go on West Indies Tour which starts with Test Series on July 12 and ends with the T20I series on August 13.
Who will be the next T20I Captain of India
India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies was announced by BCCI on Wednesday.
BCCI selectors have sidelined star players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and named many youngsters in the roster. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya has been named as the captain of the Indian T20I side.
The newly appointed BCCI selector Ajit Agarkar has retained Hardik Pandya as the skipper of India’s T20I squad, as senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been rested.
Both players are out of form in T20Is since T20 World Cup while Hardik Pandya has been leading T20I teams. Young players like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma earned their maiden call-ups for the T20I series after their performance on IPL.
Former Player Akash Chopra suggests Hardik Pandya shall continue to lead the Indian T20I team until the T20I World Cup in 2024.
“Hardik Pandya, who had been given the captaincy after the T20 World Cup – it seems like that’s now the final fixture, that Hardik Pandya will lead the Indian T20 team for times to come, which means until the upcoming World Cup,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
He added about the exclusion of Virat and Rohit saying, “I feel they had already moved in that direction and it is still the same, nothing has changed. None of the seniors have been picked. KL Rahul is unavailable but now it is extended that you have not played Rohit and Kohli since the World Cup.”
After a terrific start in the Mumbai Indians team joining them in 2022, Tilak Varma had played 25 matches up to date in his IPL career and has scored a total of 740 runs, with an average of 38.95. It includes three half-centuries, with his highest IPL score of 84 runs.
Jaiswal has an average of 80.21 in 15 games, scoring 1845 runs with nine centuries and two half-centuries. Jaiswal also has an average of 53.96 in 32 List A games, becoming the youngest double-centurion in the format when he scored 203 runs off just 154 balls for Mumbai in January 2019, scoring against Jharkhand at the age of 17.
The batsman Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed as the Vice-Captain for the West Indies T20I series. In addition to that, Leg Spinner Ravi Bishnoi also made a comeback into India’s T20i team.
On the other hand, KKR’s left-handed batsman Rinku Singh had missed out, not having a slot in the same position, covering with Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Sanju Samson in the middle order.
Yashavi Jaswal is about to make a debut in the Test Series of the West Indies tour next week, also included in the T20I squad after an impressive IPL.
Avesh Khan gives international comeback joining Bishnoi on West Indies Tour. The wrist Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal also being part of the T20I squad.
India vs West Indies Tour 2023
India will make its much-awaited return to the field after the finals of the World Test Championship 2023. The match will kick off the West Indies Series with Two-Test match series. Despite losing the WTC, the selectors have only added young players giving a maiden Test call-up.
As the players have reached the host’s ground, they are about to start the preparations soon. With its current performance, West Indies would not be much of a challenge for Team India and they are expected to win Test and ODI with ease. But West Indies shall put some competition in the T20I series against India.
India’s T20I squad for West Indies Tour 2023
Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Surya Kumar Yadav (VC), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (C), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
