'India captaincy not determined by IPL performance: Former Indian opener defends Hardik Pandya'

After India's victory in the T20 World Cup 2024, there was speculation that Hardik Pandya would be the next captain of Team India. With Rohit Sharma stepping down from T20Is, Hardik was the natural choice to lead the team in his absence. However, Suryakumar Yadav surprised everyone by being appointed as the captain for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, overshadowing Hardik's captaincy ambitions.

Former India batter Aakash Chopra reckons there should be some clarity regarding what is happening with Hardik Pandya regarding the leadership role.

Hardik Pandya is now nowhere in the scheme of things regarding leadership. Recently, Axar Patel was named the vice-captain for the upcoming five-match T20I series against England. Questions are now being raised regarding what has gone wrong with Hardik and why he isn't being looked at as someone with a captaincy pedigree.

"What has happened with Hardik Pandya? Nobody is thinking or talking about him. What exactly has happened with him? He will definitely go to the Champions Trophy. He brings that balance," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"He had an exceptional T20 World Cup. He is the captain of Mumbai Indians. He led India in the 6 T20I series and won five out of them. When Rohit wasn't available, Hardik used to be the captain," he noted further.

'Beyond my understanding'

Aakash Chopra also said that it is beyond his understanding how Hardik Pandya's stocks have fallen as the leader. It is important to mention that Hardik led Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024.

The franchise finished at the bottom of the table. Hardik Pandya was also booed mercilessly as fans did not take kindly to him replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain of Mumbai Indians.

However, Hardik Pandya was able to change his fortunes around in the T20 World Cup. He came up with an outstanding performance in the final against South Africa to help India end their ICC title drought.

"Suddenly, what has happened? He is not even the vice-captain. He is not being talked about. Mumbai Indians had a bad reason but you cannot blame Hardik for that. Even if the performance and his captaincy were bad, it has nothing to do with Indian cricket. The Indian team captaincy is not decided on the basis of franchise captaincy. If this was the case, the matter would have been different. There have been so many captains who led India despite their franchise doing nothing in the IPL," said Aakash Chopra.

"It is beyond my understanding regarding what is happening with Hardik Pandya. There should be some clarity regarding whether he can be considered as captaincy candidate going ahead. It is looking like we are heading towards different captains in all three formats. Hardik is not even the vice-captain and it is a bit surprising," he added.

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