Hardik Pandya is expected to succeed KL Rahul as the Indian T20 team’s permanent vice-captain. He has seen a meteoric rise in only five months due to his IPL 2022 exploits and stellar performance with Team India. Earlier, he faced the obstacle of a troublesome back injury. Hardik Pandya was chosen as vice-captain for the first time for the South Africa series at home. He has great bat and ball skills. After that, India won the series and then he was selected as the team’s captain for the Ireland visit. Due to KL Rahul’s ongoing ailment, Hardik is now in line for greater promotion.
The official announcement is expected to be at the time of squad selection on September 15. “Hardik is a world-class player and it’s great to have him back in the team at full fitness. Whether he will be named vice-captain is up to the selectors. But he is already a leader in the group. As an all-rounder, he understands both situations. He has outstanding leadership skills and we saw that in the IPL. He will surely do well,” says a source from BCCI.
Hardik Pandya had a dream IPL this season with 487 runs from the bat and leading the team to the IPL title. Since his return to the national team, he has scored 253 runs with an impressive average of 31.52. Also took 8 crucial wickets.
KL Rahul will still serve as the ODI and Test teams’ vice captain, though. He will skipper in Rohit Sharma’s absence, with Jasprit Bumrah serving as vice-captain. India’s fifth Test against England was captained by Jasprit Bumrah.
But it appears as though Hardik Pandya’s Test career has ended suddenly. Although Hardik has not stated if he would still participate in Test matches.