Hardik Pandya is en route to face a tough competition for his vice-captaincy spot in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. Reports claim that ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is now a big threat to Pandya who is also the T20I skipper for the Men in Blue. While Rohit Sharma leads the Indian contingent, Pandya’s free reign as vice-captaincy is now under threat after Bumrah returned from his long spell of injury.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah appears to be a strong contender to become vice-captain of the Indian team, alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya, for the upcoming Asia Cup as well as ODI World Cup, starting October 5.
While Pandya has been made the regular T20I captain, Bumrah, who has made an international comeback against Ireland in the ongoing T20I series that started on Friday, is set to give tough competition to the colourful Baroda all-rounder.
“If you look in terms of leadership seniority, Bumrah is ahead of Pandya as he captained the Test team in 2022. He has also been ODI vice-captain before Pandya during the ODI tour of South Africa.
“Don’t be surprised if you see Bumrah being made an ODI deputy to Rohit for both Asia Cup and World Cup. There is a reason why he was handed captaincy in Ireland instead of Ruturaj,” a BCCI source in know of things told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
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Pandya has had a successful stint as IPL skipper for Gujarat Titans, leading the team to the title in its maiden appearance in 2022 and to runners-up finish in 2023.
However, a lot of people feel that a shrewd tactician like Ashish Nehra has also played a lot of role in Gujarat Titans’ success. As far as the Indian team is concerned, Pandya lost his first bilateral series (T20I) in the West Indies where some of his decisions like not bowling Axar Patel or bringing Mukesh Kumar at the death were criticised.
