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So, the campaign of the Indian team has been ended in the eighth edition of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 with an embarrassing defeat in the second semi-final against England by a massive margin of 10 wickets. Jos Buttler-led English team completely outplayed the Indians in the all-important to make a cut to the final of the eighth edition of the 20-20 World Cup in contention to lift the coveted title.
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Notably, it was the first 20-20 World cup in which Rohit Sharma was appearing as the skipper of team India. One of the celebrated Indian batters is reckoned among some of the finest cricketing brains that he had proved on numerous occasions while leading the Mumbai franchise team in the Indian T20 League.
But unfortunately, Rohit failed to translate his Indian T20 League heroics in the marquee tournament for India played in India. There are also the assumptions that Rohit might not continue with his regular form or fitness till the next edition of the biggest tournament in the shortest format of the game.
With said that, here we’ll have a look at three Indian cricketers from the current team who might replace the 35-year-old as captain if he happens to step down following the miserable elimination of India from the eighth edition of the 20-20 World Cup.
1. KL Rahul
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Apart from his poor run of form in the current edition of the 20-20 World Cup, KL Rahul has been a vital factor for team India in this quick format of the game. He has amassed 2265 runs in 72 T20I appearances with a strike rate of 139.13. Apart from this, he has also been phenomenal in the Indian T20 League with 3889 runs to his willow in 109 matches registering a strike rate of 136.22.
Currently, the Karnataka batter is serving for the men in blue in the role of a vice-captain throughout the formats of the game. Notably, KL also led the Lucknow franchise team in the Indian T20 League’s 2022 edition. So, the Indian management might bank on the 30-year-old right-hander for the captaincy of the Indian team if Rohit Sharma steps down in near future.
2. Hardik Pandya
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The star and celebrated all-rounder in the current Indian team, Hardik Pandya has proved his worth for the Indian team on n number of occasions when the team required him the most. Appearing in 79 T20 internationals for the Indian team, Hardik has scored 1117 runs with his bat at a strike rate of 146.39.
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old has also scalped 62 wickets with the bowl conceding the runs with an economy rate of 8.31. Talking about captain Hardik Pandya, he led the new entrants Gujarat to the title triumph in the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 League. Whereas, the Baroda all-rounder has also captained India at the international level for the first time in the two-match T20I series against Ireland back in the month of June. Subsequently, the men in blue registered a clean-sweep win of 2-0 against Andy Balbirnie’s men.
Considering that in the back of the mind, the Indian management might also give it think to have Pandya as the next skipper of the men in blue in the shortest format.
3. Rishabh Pant
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The 25-year-old young Indian batting exception, Rishabh Pant has proved his worth for the Indian team couple of times in the longest format of the game. But the Delhi batter is not enjoying an expected form in the white-ball format but none of the cricket pundits can discredit the contributions that Pant delivered on crucial times for the Indian team.
Speaking of his T20I career while playing for the Indian team, the southpaw has scored 970 runs in 64 appearances in the shortest format of the game. The Haridwar-born lad had also shown his captaincy skills in the 2021 edition of the Indian T20 League when Delhi’s team topped the table with 10 wins out of the 14 games they played in the tournament.
Apart from this, he also led the Indian team in five-match T20I series against South Africa earlier in the month of June. India managed to level the series by 2-2 following the defeat in the first two matches against the Proteas before the last match happened to be washed out.
So, it would not be an exaggerated statement to say that Rishabh Pant can captain India if Rohit Sharma quits his role.