India’s T20 captain to be appointed by selectors, says BCCI secretary Jay Shah

Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI), said the decision to appoint India’s new T20 captain is with the selectors. Rohit Sharma, who guided India to their second ICC T20 World Cup title, called it a day from the shortest format of the game. Along with Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja also retired from T20s.

Speaking to select media in Barbados, Shah said the onus of appointing a new captain lies with the selectors only. “Captaincy will be decided by the selectors and we will announce it after discussing with them,” he said.

Shah added that the Indian team is in a transition phase and added that the seniors, implying Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja, who retired from T20Is, will be a part of the Indian team when they play the ICC Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship final, if they qualify.

“The transition has already happened with three greats retiring. The way this team is progressing, our target is to win the World Test Championship final and the Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there,” Shah told the media in Barbados.

The Indian team’s next assignment is a T20I series against Zimbabwe. The team will be led by Shubman Gill, with most of the players, who participated in the T20 World Cup, given a rest.

Shah hoped that India’s triumph had broken the ICC trophy jinx that Indian cricket has been enduring. India last won an ICC tournament in 2013, when they won the Champions Trophy. In the last year, India lost two ICC finals—the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup final—and the BCCI secretary hoped that India could next win the Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship title too. “I would want India to win all the titles. We have the biggest bench strength, only three players from this team are going to Zimbabwe. We can field three teams if the need arises,” he concluded.

India’s ODI series are against Sri Lanka (away), New Zealand (home) and England (home).