Team India gave an excellent performance in the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand at home, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. The hosts cleansweeped both the series 3-0 and took the top-spot in the ICC ODI rankings. But in the shortest format, all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been leading Team India. Hardik has proved himself to be a great asset as a leader as he led India to series win over Sri Lanka, earlier this month. However, the management hasn't taken any official decision of appointing two captains for different formats and veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels that the call will depend on how India perform in the upcoming ODI World Cup.
“If the case presents itself, why not? But right now, it is not right for me to say for two reasons. One, India are only playing three T20s after this until the 2023 World Cup, they face the West Indies after the IPL. Once that tournament is done, I think we will know exactly where things stand,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz.
“If Rohit Sharma's team doesn't go on to do something special there, we could very well see a chance of split captaincy, I guess the opportunity will present itself at that point of time. Whereas if Rohit goes on to achieve something special, we will all like to think differently and give him a crack at the 2024 T20 World Cup if he himself is willing to play that,” he added.
The wicketkeeper-batter went on to praise Hardik for his captaincy and stated that he has done a "phenomenal job" in the T20Is against Sri Lanka.
“For the moment, I do believe that Hardik has done a phenomenal job. Case in point being the T20 that was played against Sri Lanka in Mumbai. That was a great game. Stopping Sri Lanka for 160 was a terrific effort on a day where there was little dew. He showed his captaincy prowess there,” said Karthik.
Talking about Hardik, the all-rounder is currently leading Team India in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand, where the visitors thrashed the hosts by 21 runs in the first match on Friday.