Rohit Sharma will be India's captain at 2024 T20 World Cup, Jay Shah confirms

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) general secretary Jay Shah confirmed on Wednesday that Rohit Sharma will be India’s captain during the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup in USA and West Indies. There were speculations that Hardik Pandya could captain India during the ICC event, but the BCCI official has now brought an end to the rumours by confirming that Rohit will be leading the Men in Blue once again in a World Cup. “In 2023 (final) at Ahmedabad, even though we did not win the World Cup after 10 straight wins, we won hearts. I want to promise you that in 2024 (T20 World Cup), under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, we will hoist the Indian flag in Barbados,” said Shah during an event to rename the the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.

VIDEO | Here’s what Asian Cricket Council president and BCCI secretary Jay Shah (@JayShah) said while addressing an event in Rajkot.

“In 2023 (final) at Ahmedabad, even though we did not win the World Cup after 10 straight wins, we won hearts. I want to promise you that in 2024… pic.twitter.com/GcEJjSdiLs

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 14, 2024

Later on the sidelines of the event, Shah explained why the decision to have Rohit as captain was taken. “Rohit was captaining (in the past and in other formats) and he came back for the Afghanistan series, which means we were going to let him continue forward,” he said. “When Hardik was injured in the World Cup, who else can we give the captaincy. In the third T20I against Afghanistan, India were 22/4 and the way he took the team to 212/4, we can’t question much about him, right? He has the ability, as I said, we won ten games in the ODI World Cup. We didn’t win the final, but it’s part and parcel of the game. Whoever plays better, wins.” This wasn’t the only major announcement that Shah made during the event in Rajkot on the eve of the third India-England Test where the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium was renamed as Niranjan Shah Stadium after the long-serving BCCI official. Shah also confirmed that Rahul Dravid will be India’s head coach during T20 World Cup 2024 and Hardik Pandya will be vice-captain of the team. The announcements regarding the India captain and head coach for the T20 World Cup 2024 came in the presence of Rohit, Dravid and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar. The 2024 edition will be the second time Rohit will be captaining India in a T20 World Cup after the 2022 tournament in Australia where the team reached the semi-finals before bowing out after a defeat to England. Under Rohit’s captaincy, India had a memorable campaign in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home where they won 10 straight games to reach the final before losing to Australia in the summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India start their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland on 5 June in New York before facing Pakistan in a group game. They also take on Canada and the USA in the group stage.