Hardik Pandya: The majority of the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against England, set to take place in India starting February 6, as well as the Champions Trophy scheduled for February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai, has already been finalized.
However, during a selection committee meeting that spanned approximately two and a half hours at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Saturday, the primary focus was on determining who should serve as Rohit Sharma’s deputy: Hardik Pandya or Shubman Gill? A BCCI official who attended the meeting shared with national media that head coach Gautam Gambhir favored Hardik for the vice-captain role, while both captain Rohit and chief selector Ajit Agarkar were firmly in support of Shubman.
Additionally, Gambhir expressed a desire for Sanju Samson, the only player to hit three international centuries in a single calendar year in T20, to take on the wicketkeeper position, but the selectors backed Rishabh Pant instead. KL Rahul is also in the running as a wicketkeeper.
Hardik served as the vice-captain for both the ODI and T20 teams
During Rohit’s tenure as captain across all formats, Hardik served as the vice-captain for both the ODI and T20 teams. They held the same roles during the ODI World Cup hosted in India in October-November 2023. When Hardik had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury, Rahul stepped in as vice-captain.
In December of that year, the Mumbai Indians made a significant change by replacing Rohit with Hardik as their captain. Since that decision, India has only participated in two ODI series against South Africa and Sri Lanka. Rohit opted to rest during the three-match ODI series in South Africa from December 17 to 21, 2023, while Hardik was unavailable due to fitness issues, leading to Rahul taking on the captaincy. Notably, Gill was not included in the ODI squad.