‘If Rohit Sharma’s Team Doesn’t…’ – Dinesh Karthik’s bold statement on Split Captaincy

Under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, Team India played admirably in the just concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand at home. The hosts won both series handily by a score of 3-0 and claimed first place in the ODI standings. But all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been leading Team India in the shortest format.

Hardik led India to a series victory over Sri Lanka, earlier, this month, demonstrating his strengths as a captain. The decision to name two captains for different formats has not yet been made by the management, and veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes that it would be determined by how well India perform at the upcoming ODI World Cup.

“If the case presents itself, why not? But right now, it is not right for me to say for two reasons. One, India is only playing three T20s after this until the 2023 World Cup, they face the West Indies after the Indian T20 League. Once that tournament is done, I think we will know exactly where things stand,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz.

If Rohit goes on to achieve something special, we will all like to think differently: Dinesh Karthik

“If Rohit Sharma’s team doesn’t go on to do something special there, we could very well see a chance of split captaincy, I guess the opportunity will present itself at that point in time. Whereas if Rohit goes on to achieve something special, we will all like to think differently and give him a crack at the 2024 T20 World Cup if he himself is willing to play that,” the Bangalore franchise player added.

Hardik has done a “phenomenal job” leading in the T20Is against Sri Lanka. The wicketkeeper-batter continued, complimenting him on his captaincy:

“For the moment, I do believe that Hardik has done a phenomenal job. Case in point is the T20 that was played against Sri Lanka in Mumbai. That was a great game. Stopping Sri Lanka for 160 was a terrific effort on a day where there was little dew. He showed his captaincy prowess there,” said Karthik.

In the ongoing T20I series between Team India and New Zealand, Hardik is leading the Indian side. On Friday, the visitors hammered the hosts by 21 runs in the opening game.