Former Indian captain Virat Kohli and Indian captain Rohit Sharma were seen laughing with Shivam Dube after the second T20I between India and Afghanistan came to a close in Indore. Dube, who has been magnificent with the bat and the ball throughout the series, has claimed a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad for the fast-bowling all-rounder role.
Although Hardik Pandya has been away from the Indian cricket team since the World Cup 2023, he has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. With Shivam Dube’s performance, the pressure on Hardik Pandya to remain injury-free and perform has increased all the more. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made a comeback in the Indian T20 side but it will boil down to IPL 2024 for T20 World Cup 2024.
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After India won the game against Afghanistan and sealed the series, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were seen having fun with Shivam Dube. To this, some fans also alleged that Virat has also now joined hands with Rohit Sharma to keep Hardik Pandya away from the Indian T20I setup.
Fans allege Virat Kohli of siding with Rohit Sharma than Hardik Pandya
Notably, the captaincy tussle for the Indian T20 team started after India’s dismal performance in T20 World Cup 2022. Rohit and Virat took a step back from the Indian T20 team after that and did not play in the T20 format for the Men in Blue. However, both the players had a stellar ICC World Cup 2023, whereas, India’s T20 captain, Hardik Pandya, suffered an injury midway through the 2023 World Cup and got ruled out.
Aur yaha Jhamtu fans Virat- Rohit ke fans war me ladte he #ViratKohli𓃵 #RohitSharma𓃵 #INDvsAFG pic.twitter.com/GmollsbK68
— विजय (@bijjuu11) January 14, 2024
Since India’s exit from the T20 World Cup 2022, Hardik Pandya has been captaining India’s T20I side. With him not available for the T20I series against Australia and South Africa, Suryakumar Yadav was given the captaincy reins of the Indian T20 team. However, Yadav also suffered an ankle injury in South Africa and the Indian selectors were then forced to recall Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in India’s T20 setup.
As per reports, Rohit had asked for clarity on his role in the T20 World Cup 2024 and he was guaranteed by BCCI to captain the side in the mega event. Amidst all this, Mumbai Indians made a massive move ahead of the IPL 2024 auction by grabbing hold of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and naming him the captain of the side for the 2024 season.
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This led to massive outrage among fans and the entire issue escalated to it being Rohit Sharma vs Hardik Pandya. Although no player officially spoke out anything, there were reports in the media stating that even senior MI players were not in favor of naming Hardik the captain of the franchise.
Currently, Hardik Pandya is recovering from his injury and is expected to be available for IPL 2024 whereas team India will play a 5-match series against England in the Test format which will include senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. After the series, all the Indian players will audition for their spot in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 by playing in IPL 2024 and the selectors will then finalize the squad.
