 "BCCI General Secretary Jay Shah reflects on what the future holds for Indian cricket team. PTI")
After winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, BCCI general secretary Jay Shah has set the sights on the World Test Championship and Champions Trophy titles. Shah said that India have depth in their squad but underlined the importance of experience, adding that the senior players will also be part of the Champions Trophy which is scheduled to be played in Pakistan early next year.
“I would want India to win all the titles. We have the biggest bench strength, only three players from this team are going to Zimbabwe. We can field three teams if the need arises,” Shah said while speaking to media reporters in Barbados after India defeated South Africa in the final to win the T20 World Cup.
“The way this team is progressing, our target is to win the World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there,” said Shah.
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In the same vein, Jay Shah praised Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who retired from T20Is after the World Cup win.
“It was same captain last year and same here in Barbados. We won all games except the final in 2023 as Australia played better. This time we worked even harder and played better to win the title.
“If you look at other teams, experience counts. From Rohit to Virat, all excelled. Experience makes a lot of difference, in World Cups you can’t experiment much also.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“A good player knows when to say goodbye to the game, we saw that yesterday. You look at Rohit’s strike rate, it is better than a lot of young players,” he said.
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Shah also responded to the question if Hardik Pandya will be made India’s next T20I captain, replacing Rohit Sharma.
“Captaincy will be decided by the selectors and we will announce it after discussing with them. You asked about Hardik, there were lot of questions over his form, but we and the selectors showed faith in him, and he proved himself.”
New coach to join from Sri Lanka series
Jay Shah added that the announcement regarding who will be India’s next head coach will be made shortly and Rahul Dravid’s replacement will join the side from the Sri Lanka tour.
Gautam Gambhir and former India women’s coach WV Raman had appeared in front of the Cricket Advisory Committee for the head coach job last month.
The Indian team will be travelling to Sri Lanka for three T20Is and as many ODIs starting 27 July.
“Both coach and selector appointment will be made shortly. CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe, but new coach will join from Sri Lanka series,” Shah said
The Zimbabwe tour begins on 6 July.