India have met tremendous success with Rohit Sharma in recent ICC white-ball competitions, winning the T20 World Cup 2024 and the Champions Trophy 2025. Though he has announced that he would continue to play ODIs, there remains no clarity whether he would continue till the 2027 50-over World Cup. Yet, former India World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has presented another proposal to Team India regarding captaincy. Actually, Kapil’s favorite to be India’s future white-ball captain is not even the captain in either of the white-ball formats.
Kapil Dev Backs Hardik Pandya as Future White-Ball Captain
“To me, Hardik Pandya is my white ball captain. There are many contenders for the post but Pandya is my choice,” Kapil Dev said in an interview with during a PGTI pro-am event held in Greater Noida.
“Pandya is relatively young and can build a team around him for the next ICC events,” Kapil added.
Hardik Pandya was India’s ODI and T20I vice-captain with Rahul Dravid being the Team India head coach but is now out of any official captaincy role after Gautam Gambhir’s arrival, whose fitness and availability have been questioned.
Kapil Dev On Current Leadership Setup in White-Ball Formats
Suryakumar Yadav has been made India’s permanent captain in T20I cricket, and Shubman Gill is now India’s vice-captain in ODI cricket.
“Ideally, Hardik should also play Test cricket and since he isn’t playing, India will need multiple captain for three formats,” Kapil further said.
Hardik Pandya, by the way, leads Rohit, Suryakumar and Test vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah at Mumbai Indians (MI), an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.
Mixed IPL Captaincy Record of Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya became captain at Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 for the first time, and produced stellar performances, Under Pandya, Gujarat Titans claimed the championship in one season there and came in second in one season.
At Mumbai Indians, though, he has yet to have a credit on his file. Pandya-led MI, in 2024, placed last in the league.