Not Hardik Pandya! Harbhajan Singh names India's next T20I captain after Rohit Sharma

Harbhajan Singh has named his next India T20I captain.

Harbhajan Singh is not in favor of Hardik Pandya succeeding as India T20I captain after Rohit Sharma steps down. Rohit will be captaining the Indian team in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Hardik had impressed one and all with his captaincy for Gujarat Titans (GT) for which, he was then named India’s vice-captain in white-ball formats in 2022 and even led India in T20Is and ODIs when Rohit Sharma was rested or focusing on ODIs in the ICC World Cup year.

GT won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 under Hardik Pandya’s captaincy and reached the finals of the IPL 2023 as well. However, since becoming the Mumbai Indians captain, Pandya’s captaincy magic has waned a bit as MI is in the bottom half of the IPL 2024 points table.

Instead of Pandya, Harbhajan Singh feels batter Sanju Samson should be groomed for India captaincy in T20Is, highlighting how well he has led Rajasthan Royals in the last few years in the IPL.

Sanju Samson should be groomed as the next India T20I captain: Harbhajan Singh

Sanju Samson was named RR captain in IPL 2021 as he replaced Steve Smith. Samson then led the RR side to the final of the IPL 2022 which was held in India in whole after the Covid pandemic. Since then, Sanju Samson has been very good in leading the RR side.

He has been very good with the bat as well in IPL 2024, scoring 314 runs from 8 games at an average of 62.80 and a strike-rate of 152.42 with 3 fifties and a top score of 82 not out. As a captain, Sanju Samson has led RR to 7 wins in 8 IPL 2024 matches and the franchise is one win away from qualifying for the playoffs.

Harbhajan says India should develop Samson as their next T20I captain once Rohit Sharma departs. Harbhajan also commended Yashasvi Jaiswal for his impressive recovery from a difficult time.

Harbhajan took to ‘X’ and wrote, “Yashasvi Jaiswal’s knock is a proof of class is permanent. Form is temporary @ybj_19 and there shouldn’t be any debate about Keeper batsman. @IamSanjuSamson should walk in to the Indian team for T20 world cup and also groomed as a next T20 captain for India after Rohit . koi shak???”

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