India suffered a huge blow as Hardik Pandya's World Cup 2023 campaign ended with an injury on Saturday, November 4. The BCCI quickly drafted young pacer Prasidh Krishna as Hardik's replacement and also announced a new vice-captain for the remainder of the tournament.
Hardik missed India's last three games after suffering an ankle injury against Bangladesh on October 19. He was expected to make a return in the closing stages of the tournament but failed to recover on time and is being ruled out completely.
It's a considerable blow for the management as the team lacks a pace all-rounder and a sixth bowling option. Hardik's exit also left the vice-captaincy role vacant and not the Board of Control for Cricket in India has named the star wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul as his replacement.
According to a report from the Indian Express, the BCCI's senior selection committee picked KL Rahul over Jasprit Bumrah to take vice-captaincy duties. Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, is travelling with a team and led the meeting on Saturday morning to take the decision.
“The BCCI has appointed KL Rahul as the vice-captain of the Indian team for the remainder of the World Cup. He was informed about it on Saturday morning by the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, who is travelling with the team,” a BCCI official told the Indian Express on Saturday.
India clash against in-form South Africa in their next match at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Sunday, November 5. Rohit Sharma and the management are likely to test their bench strength against South Africa and the last group-stage match against Netherlands on November 12.
India World Cup Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (vc & wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Prasidh Krishna.
