Jay Shah namedrops Hardik Pandya in reply to next IND captain query; confirms Kohli, Rohit presence for Champions Trophy

Following India's first ICC title in 11 years, Jay Shah is optimistic about claiming the World Test Championship trophy and the Champions Trophy next year

Minutes after India ended their 11-year wait for an ICC trophy with a T20 World Cup win against South Africa in the final on Saturday, Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the format, thus handing over the baton to the next generation. Shortly after, India captain Rohit Sharma followed suit, and later Ravindra Jadeja. So where does that leave Team India? Does that decision put their position at risk in the ODI set-up with the Champions Trophy around? 'No,' says Jay Shah.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah has his say on India's next T20I captain

The BCCI president praised Kohli and Rohit for their contributions to the T20I format and in India's run to a second T20 World Cup and first world title since 2011.

"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," he said on Monday. “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. 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.”

Following India's first ICC title in 11 years, Shah is optimistic about claiming the World Test Championship trophy and the Champions Trophy next year with the likes of Kohli and Rohit contiuing in the longer formats.

"The way this team is progressing, our target is to win World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there," Shah assured.

Hardik to take over from Rohit?

Rohit's retirement from the T20I format sparked speculations about India's next captain in the format. While Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah have been among names doing the rounds, all-rounder Hardik has emerged as the favourite, having led India in T20Is for the last two years in Rohit's absence.

In response to the query on Hardik potentially being the next India captain, Shah namedropped the all-rounder, but revealed that the final decision rests in the hands of the selectors. "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 selectors showed faith in him and he proved himself," he said.