Former Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik is puzzled with the decision to snub Hardik Pandya as T20I vice-captain for the upcoming IND vs ENG series. The all-rounder was replaced by Axar Patel as deputy to Suryakumar Yadav, raising eyebrows. Last year, the selectors had decided to strip Hardik off captaincy reportedly due to his issues related to fitness. However, the latest snub as vice-captain is more worrying, for there seems to be very little logic behind it.
Karthik puzzled over Hardik Pandya snubbed as vice-captain
Surprisingly enough, Axar Patel has been chosen as the deputy of Suryakumar Yadav, who officially took over from Rohit Sharma, after the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. While Axar has been a good enough player for India across formats, one is yet to see his prowess as the leader of the team.
“I really don’t know. I don’t know why he (Hardik) was stripped of his vice-captaincy. I don’t see any reason to. They have done well. They have won in the bilaterals that he was the vice-captain. Not a clue,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
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After serving as Rohit Sharma’s deputy in India’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign, Hardik was expected to be named the T20I skipper. However, selectors went ahead with Suryakumar while Shubman Gill was named as vice-captain for the Sri Lanka tour. At this point of time, it looks like Hardik is no where in the picture when it comes to leadership. While it could also be due to the team management’s workload management plans, it makes little sense to not have the experienced all-rounder as a deputy at least.
India squad for IND vs ENG T20Is
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
