Hardik Pandya was selected by the great Kapil Dev as the best person to succeed Rohit Sharma as the Indian team’s white-ball captain when his reign ends. At the moment, Hardik is in charge of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 18th Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
In 2022, Hardik guided Gujarat Titans (GT) to their first IPL championship. The Baroda all-rounder was leading an IPL squad for the first time as well. The Titans lost to the Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling final the following season. After Rohit, Hardik was the most likely candidate to lead India as their white-ball captain. Without the Mumbai batsman, the Choryasi native captained the Men in Blue in 16 Twenty20 Internationals and three One-Day Internationals. During his rule, India won two ODIs and ten T20Is.
But after Hardik rejoined the Mumbai Indians prior to the 2024 Indian Premier League, things took a turn for the worst. After dismissing Rohit without fanfare, the team named him captain. Fans criticised this action in large numbers. At every IPL stadium, including Wankhede Stadium, Hardik was jeered. To make matters worse, under his leadership, Mumbai finished last in the standings. With an outstanding performance during India’s 2024 T20 World Cup victory, the 31-year-old was able to win back the hearts of the supporters. Suryakumar Yadav was named the new captain of the shortest format after Rohit retired from Twenty20 Internationals following the competition.
But according to Kapil Dev, Hardik Pandya is still quite young and might put together a formidable team for the upcoming ICC tournaments if appointed captain.
“Hardik Pandya is my white ball captain, in my opinion. Although there are a lot of candidates for the position, I have chosen Pandya. At a PGTI pro-am event in Greater Noida, Kapil remarked, “Pandya is relatively young and can build a team around him for the next ICC events.”
Remarkably, in January 2025, Axar Patel was named Suryakumar’s deputy in T20Is. In the meantime, Shubman Gill was named the ODI format’s deputy captain. Although Hardik appears to have fallen in the hierarchy, a great showing with the Mumbai Indians in the 2025 Indian Premier League could strengthen his cause.
According to Kapil Dev , if the all-rounder is selected as the captain for the white-ball forms, India will have to adopt the split-captaincy concept because Hardik does not play Test cricket.
“Ideally, Hardik should also play Test cricket and since he isn’t playing, India will need multiple captain for three formats,” Kapil Dev stated.
In September 2018, Hardik played his final 11 Test matches. He will play in the high-stakes match between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 7.
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