Ravi Shastri said there would be “no real loss” for India to consider the option of a new T20I captain to ease the burden on Rohit Sharma, who is now captaining India in all three formats.
After the World Cup in Australia, the selectors rested senior players, leaving Hardik Pandya in charge of the Indian T20I team in New Zealand.
Pandya took up the position for the first time in Ireland earlier this year after leading Gujarat Titans to their first win in the tournament. “For T20 cricket, there is no harm in having a new captain as the volume of cricket is such that it will never be easy for one player to play all three formats of the game. If Rohit is already leading in Tests and ODIs, There is no harm in identifying the new T20I captain and if his name is Hardik Pandya, then so be it,” Shastri said during a virtual press conference organized by Prime Video ahead of the first T20I in Wellington on Friday.
The 1983 World Cup-winning player backed Umran Malik, who has been picked for both the T20I and ODI squads, and believes he will add much-needed pace to the New Zealand bowling attack.
During Shastri’s tenure as coach, Malik was selected for India’s net bowling team in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Malik later made his T20I debut under Pandya in Ireland earlier this year.
“He is one of the fastest bowlers in India and you saw what happened in the World Cup where genuine pace troubled the opposition, be it Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah or Anrich Nortje. So there is no substitute for genuine pace. Even if you want to defend small totals. So this is an opportunity for Umran. Hopefully, he will learn from this risk,” Shastri said.
The first of the three-match T20I series on Kiwi soil begins on Friday after India’s heartbreaking semi-final exit from the T20 World Cup.
The New Zealand series comprises three T20Is and as many ODIs. Once the tour ends with the third and final limited-overs fixture on November 30, the Kiwis will return to India for a white-ball series in January next year.
Indian squad for New Zealand T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Rishabh Pant (vc and wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik.
New Zealand squad for T20 Internationals: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner.
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