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Former Indian pacer and World Cup winner Zaheer Khan has disclosed his pick for the Indian captaincy in the T20 World Cup 2024.
India’s current T20I standing and preparation for T20 World Cup 2024
The upcoming tournament is scheduled to be held in the West Indies and the USA next year. With India positioned as the No. 1 team in the T20I rankings, they are considered among the top contenders for the title. The Indian team is already gearing up for the mega tournament, and in an ongoing five-match series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav is leading a young brigade.
Zaheer Khan’s prediction for captaincy
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Zaheer expressed his belief that Rohit Sharma is likely to continue as India’s captain for the 20-over global event. Despite India’s impressive run in the Cricket ODI World Cup 2023, where they reached the final undefeated but couldn’t clinch the title, Zaheer sees Rohit as a strong contender for the leadership role. He emphasized that Rohit, with his experience, understands how to navigate various situations.
“The T20 World Cup is just around the corner…you have to go in with experience. You will have to give that preference to the experienced guy, and I will not be surprised if they decide to go ahead with Rohit Sharma himself,” Zaheer said.
“He [Rohit Sharma] understands handling situations, handling pressure and all those kinds of aspects,” the 45-year-old added.
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Captaincy dilemma
Although Rohit last played a T20I game in November 2022 during the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, questions about his future in T20Is have arisen, especially as Hardik Pandya has captained the side in the shortest format during Rohit’s absence. Zaheer acknowledged that the decision for the T20 World Cup captaincy might be a choice between the current captain, Rohit and Pandya.
“You have a big tournament like the IPL in between, which will give them enough time to prepare. So, it’s either going to be Rohit Sharma or, depending on how Hardik goes about his rehab, his comeback,” the Shrirampur-born cricketer concluded.
