Explained: Why it makes sense to have Rohit Sharma as India captain for T20 World Cup 2024

BCCI secretary Jay Shah was uber confident when he declared that India will be winning the T20 World Cup 2024 under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in Barbados (the venue of the final) this year. “Rohit Sharma ke kaptaani main hum 2024 main zaroor Bharat ka jhanda gadenge (we will hoist India’s flag in Barbados under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in 2024,” he declared during a BCCI event on Wednesday at Rajkot.

The explosive announcement has brought an end to the speculations over who will be India’s captain at the T20 World Cup 2024. With Rohit Sharma not playing T20Is after India’s exit from the T20 World Cup 2022 following a semi-final defeat and Hardik Pandya leading Men in Blue in the subsequent matches, it was speculated that the latter will lead the country in the ICC event which starts on 1 June 2024.

Despite Rohit indicating in August 2023 that he will be back in T20Is after the 2023 ODI World Cup, it was felt in multiple circles that Pandya would be a better choice to captain India. Partly because Hardik has recently raised his profile by guiding Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 title in their first season and taking them to the final in the 2023 edition and partly because of Rohit’s struggles in the T20 format.

Rohit’s recent batting numbers in T20s

In the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, which India lost under Rohit’s captaincy, the skipper could only manage 27 off 28 as India batted first and ended up with a poor score of 168/6. This was overhauled by an aggressive England in just 16 overs.

It was felt India were playing outdated cricket under Rohit who himself was struggling to adjust to the pace of the game in T20 cricket. In last two seasons of IPL since 2022, in 30 matches, he has scored just 600 runs at an average of 20 and strike rate of 126.49.

Still, BCCI has decided to stick with Rohit as the captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup which all things considered is probably the best decision, India could have taken.

Why? We explain how it makes sense to continue with Rohit Sharma.

Why Rohit over Pandya

There are two major reasons behind BCCI wanting Rohit to continue as India captain in T20Is — his batting renaissance and Hardik Pandya struggling with injuries.

Both reasons were well reflected in Jay Shah’s quotes that he gave to media on Wednesday explaining BCCI’s decision.

“If Hardik was injured in the World Cup, who else can we give the captaincy?” Shah pointed when asked about the decision. “In the third T20I against Afghanistan, India were 22/4 and the way he (Rohit Sharma) took the team to 212/4, we can’t question much about him, right?”

“He (Rohit) has the ability, as I said, we won 10 games in the ODI World Cup. We didn’t win the final, but it’s part and parcel of the game. Whoever plays better, wins,” Shah added.

Let’s first come to his batting renaissance.

If his poor strike rate became a topic of discussion during the 2022 T20 World Cup, the same attribute of Rohit was India’s strength at the 2023 ODI World Cup.

He scored 401 runs in opening powerplay from 11 innings at a strike rate of 135.01 during the 2023 World Cup – the best among all batter and that also by a mile.

In the three T20Is against Afghanistan earlier this year, which marked Rohit’s return to T20Is after a gap of more than a year, he got out on a duck twice before hitting 121 not out in the final match at a strike rate of 175.36.

The upcoming IPL 2024 will give a better understanding of his form in T20 cricket, but Rohit has given enough indication that he has gone past his old playing style where he relied on the strategy of accumulating runs at the start before exploding at the end. Now he believes in going for the kill from the very start.

Hardik’s fitness still a concern

Hardik Pandya has not played for India since suffering an ankle injury during the 2023 ODI World Cup. Reuters

Another reason that ruled Hardik out of the race is his struggle with injuries. The all-rounder has struggled for a while with a back injury and had a surgery in 2019, but his international participation has only been limited to ODIs and T20Is.

India invested heavily in the Gujarat cricketer with an eye on the 2023 ODI World Cup, managing his workload, but he was ruled out midway through the tournament due to an ankle injury and has not been back since.

While there are reports that Hardik has been kept out of India action to protect him for the T20 World Cup, there’s no doubt that his body has become fragile and there’s no guarantee the all-rounder will not suffer another injury in IPL or the T20 World Cup.

Which explains BCCI’s decision to handover the captaincy to Rohit despite Hardik’s rise in T20 cricket, both as a player and a captain.