NEW DELHI: Former opener
Aakash Chopra
shared his anticipation of
Rohit Sharma
likely leading the Indian side during the
2024 T20 World Cup
, set to take place from June 1 to June 29. The mega tournament is co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States.
Chopra, on his YouTube channel, suggested Rohit's probable captaincy due to
Hardik Pandya
's ongoing fitness challenges hindering his current availability for play.
The ICC announced the complete schedule for the competition on Friday. India will face arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9 in New York.
Hardik has been sidelined from competitive cricket since October 19, following an ankle injury sustained while bowling in an ICC Cricket World Cup match against Bangladesh.
Consequently, he missed the five-match T20I series against Australia and the subsequent three-match T20I and ODI series during the South Africa tour.
In Hardik's absence, Suryakumar Yadav took charge of India in all the T20I matches.
"Hardik will probably not be the captain because there is an issue regarding fitness. You are not playing currently. You twisted your ankle in the World Cup. You are not playing the Afghanistan series and you don't play Tests in any case, so you will straightaway play the IPL. It is going against him," said Aakash.
"I feel Rohit Sharma will be doing T20I captaincy and will also be the captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup. If you had asked this question after the 2022
T20 World Cup
, it was almost certain he would not be the captain, considering the way the team performed as we were scoring 60 runs in the first 10 overs," he added.
Hardik was recently appointed as the skipper for Mumbai Indians (MI), replacing Rohit after he returned to his old franchise following a two-year stint with Gujarat Titans.