"Hardik Pandya used to be the captain when Rohit wasn't available" - Aakash Chopra on new vice-captain for IND vs ENG 2025 T20Is

Former player Aakash Chopra has questioned why Hardik Pandya hasn't been made India's vice-captain for the upcoming T20I series against England. He pointed out that the all-rounder used to lead the Men in Blue in the shortest format whenever Rohit Sharma wasn't available.

India will square off against England in a five-match T20I series, with the first game to be played in Kolkata on January 22. While Suryakumar Yadav will lead the 15-member Indian squad, Axar Patel has been appointed his deputy.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the cricketer-turned-commentator noted that India have had a plethora of T20I captains in recent years and wondered why Hardik, who seemed to be the apparent heir, was not considered for a leadership role.

"India have had 10 captains in T20Is in the last five years. Suryakumar Yadav is the current captain. Ruturaj Gaikwad was the captain some time ago and before that, Hardik Pandya was the captain for a long time, and then Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. KL Rahul also captained. Even Shubman Gill did the captaincy," he said (4:30).

"That is my point - what happened with Hardik Pandya? No one is thinking or talking about him. What exactly has happened? His T20 World Cup was very good and after that, he played a lot of domestic cricket as well. He is an IPL team's captain and India have won five of the six T20I series he has captained. Hardik Pandya used to be the captain when Rohit wasn't available," Chopra added.

Hardik has led India to 10 wins in 16 T20Is, with one match being tied. However, due to his fitness issues, Suryakumar was preferred over him as the full-time T20I captain after Rohit retired from the format.

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"You cannot blame him for the Mumbai Indians' bad season" - Aakash Chopra on Hardik Pandya not being made vice-captain

The Mumbai Indians finished last in IPL 2024. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra opined that Hardik Pandya cannot be denied India's vice-captaincy just because the Mumbai Indians had a poor IPL 2024 campaign under his leadership.

"What has happened suddenly that he is not even the vice-captain? He is not even becoming a point of discussion, as to why is Hardik Pandya not the captain. You cannot blame him for the Mumbai Indians' bad season. Even if he had a bad season and his captaincy might have been bad, what does the Indian team have to do with that?" he said (5:45).

The former India opener added that other players have led the national team when their franchises weren't performing well.

"The Indian team's captaincy is not decided based on how you captain for the franchise. There are many captains whose franchises weren't doing anything, but they remained as captains for Team India. So it is slightly beyond my understanding as to what exactly is happening with Hardik Pandya," Chopra observed.

Chopra concluded by questioning whether Hardik would be considered a captaincy candidate for the Men in Blue. While opining that India could soon have separate captains for each of the three formats, he pointed out that the all-rounder isn't the vice-captain in any of the formats.