In the forthcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka, India will be captained by Hardik Pandya. Due to his leadership in the most recent series, there have been discussions about giving Pandya permanent captaincy.
Pandya triumphantly returned to cricket in the IPL 2022 after missing several months owing to a back injury. In addition to leading the Men in Blue to a 1-0 victory over the hosts New Zealand in the T20I series in Rohit Sharma's absence, he demonstrated his leadership skills by leading Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 championship in their inaugural season.
There have been requests for Hardik to be given the permanent T20I captaincy following his triumph in 2022 and Rohit's inability as captain to win the T20 World Cup in Australia.
The forthcoming series against Sri Lanka will also be a test for Pandya, the all-rounder and his role as a finisher, as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul are not included in the T20 team.
Ifan Pathan, a former Indian all-rounder, has cautioned the national selectors to pay strict attention to Pandya's fitness before granting him the captaincy of the Gujarat Titans.
"The captaincy Hardik has done, whether it was for the Gujarat Titans in the IPL or at the start for India, I felt the communication was extremely good. He was seen as very agile," Pathan said during an interaction on Star Sports.
"When there was talk about his captaincy, I was extremely impressed with his approach but along with that India will have to keep in mind that if you are making him the long-term captain, they will have to concentrate a lot on his fitness, whether you talk about him or the team management. It will be very crucial going ahead," he added.
It seems the Indian team management and selectors will have to be very careful when placing too much strain on Hardik Pandya because his back issue could return to haunt him again.