The former Indian opening batter, Aakash Chopra, has demanded clarity on the national team’s leadership department before starting the five-match T20I series at home against England. The expectation was to see the premier white-ball all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, shouldering the responsibility of vice-captaincy. Still, Axar Patel has tipped over him as per the BCCI press release.
After Rohit Sharma retired at the end of the winning campaign in the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav overtook Hardik to be the captain, despite the latter being seen as the best candidate for the position. Aakash Chopra reckons that there should be clearance regarding the captaincy.
The Baroda all-rounder appears not to be in the scheme of things in the leadership group. The decision to omit Hardik has perhaps come on the back of his struggle in the position for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Questions, however, have started to arise regarding what went wrong with the veteran, and he suddenly missed out on being seen with a captaincy pedigree.
“What has happened with Hardik Pandya? Nobody is thinking or talking about him. What exactly has happened to him? He will go to the Champions Trophy. He brings that balance.” Aakash Chopra expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Aakash Chopra was stunned by Hardik Pandya’s omission as India’s T20I vice-captain
Hardik made a huge contribution with both bat and ball to push the blue brigade to their second T20 World Cup after 17 years. The right-handed batter smashed 144 runs in six innings at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.57, with the best score of unbeaten 50 runs. In the bowling department, he picked up 11 wickets in eight innings at an average of 17.36 and an economy rate of below eight.
“He had an exceptional T20 World Cup. He is the captain of Mumbai Indians. He led India in the 6 T20I series and won five out of them. When Rohit wasn’t available, Hardik used to be the captain.” Aakash Chopra further highlighted.
The Uttar Pradesh-born wondered how the stocks of the all-rounder suddenly fell as a leader. When Mumbai didn’t do well under his leadership, especially replacing their beloved Rohit Sharma, to be at the bottom of the group stage, he was booed mercilessly by the fans of the Wankhede Stadium and around the country.
“Suddenly, what has happened? He is not even the vice-captain. He is not being talked about. Mumbai Indians had a bad reason, but you cannot blame Hardik for that. Even if the performance and his captaincy were bad, it has nothing to do with Indian cricket.” Aakash Chopra elaborated in the same video.
In 2024, he was in tremendous touch with 352 runs in 14 T20I innings for the national side at an average of 44 and a strike rate of 150.43 with the help of one half-century. With the ball, he collected 16 wickets in as many innings at an economy rate of 8.24.
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“The Indian team captaincy is not decided based on franchise captaincy. If this was the case, the matter would have been different. There have been so many captains who led India despite their franchise doing nothing in the IPL.” Aakash Chopra shed light.
It will be interesting to see if the same vice-captain remains for the upcoming T20I series.
“It is beyond my understanding regarding what is happening with Hardik Pandya. There should be some clarity regarding whether he can be considered as captaincy candidate going ahead. It is looking like we are heading towards different captains in all three formats. Hardik is not even the vice-captain, and it is a bit surprising.” Aakash Chopra concluded.