In a parallel universe, Hardik Pandya is the Player of the Tournament of the 2024 T20 World Cup. His campaign featured 144 runs at an average of 48 and strike rate of 151, 11 wickets taken at an average of 17.4 and economy rate of 7.6, a 13-ball 23 in the semi-final, and 3-0-20-3 – including the last over – in the final.

Pandya was just six runs away from completing the double of 150 runs and 10 wickets in a T20 World Cup, achieved just five times before, never by an Indian and only once by an Asian (Shahid Afridi in 2009). The closest Indian to Pandya (2024) was... Pandya (2022), with 128 runs and 8 wickets. After that, it is Axar Patel (2024) with 92 runs and 9 wickets.

Unfortunately for Pandya, he played on the same team as arguably the greatest white-ball fast bowler of all time, who put together perhaps the greatest bowling performance in a single tournament. But the yawning chasm between Pandya and the next best Indian all-round campaigns in T20 tournaments is to say that he remains an extremely valuable cricketer for the national team.

Of course, Pandya is the standout candidate for captaincy...

With Rohit Sharma retiring from the shortest format, India are on the lookout for a new permanent captain for the T20 side. Pandya is in pole position for this. He is an integral part of the unit, not only based on performance, but also in terms of role. India do not have another seam-bowling all-rounder of his level. If they did, Pandya may not have even made the XI for this World Cup given the IPL season he just had. But as things turned out, he had to be an automatic selection, and he did end up putting in a stellar show.

The final against South Africa was his 100th T20 international, making him only the third Indian man, after Rohit and Virat Kohli, to the mark. He is now the country's most experienced active international and the current vice-captain to boot. He has led the national team on 16 occasions already, most recently when India travelled to West Indies last August.

Read more: 'The best is yet to come’: South Africa's David Miller rebuffs retirement reports

Results-wise, his T20 record as a captain is solid. Given the volatile nature of the format, 36 wins in 61 matches across three different teams – Gujarat Titans, India, Mumbai Indians – is very good. In fact, since Pandya first captained in a T20 match, only Brian Masaba and Rohit have a better win-loss ratio than him (with a 50-match cut-off).

Workload in international cricket is unlikely to be an issue. Since Pandya does not play red-ball cricket, he was likelier than Rohit to play bilateral T20I series when available. Having the regular captain in action for these series can only be an advantage from a team-building point of view.

So far, the evidence points to only one outcome; Hardik Pandya as India's next T20 captain.

...but there are lingering questions

But then, of course, there was the IPL just gone. It was the season from hell for Pandya, and perhaps not always for reasons that were in his control. He had led Gujarat to a title in 2022 and the final in 2023, but Mumbai finished rock-bottom under his captaincy and he was booed several times by his own fans.

Whether the captaincy was part of the terms of his move, or offered to him later, is anyone's guess. Does the scale of the MI disaster impact a decision on the India front, or is it seen more charitably as an anomalous 14 matches out of 61?

It was a sub-optimal season on multiple fronts. There were doubts over whether Pandya the captain made the best use of his bowling resources, set the right fields, or came up with alternate plans in the heat of the battle. Add to this his own average form with both bat and ball, and it looked at times as though this was the last person you wanted to lead a team. Questions were also raised about his success at Gujarat, of how much of the on-field decision-making had been Pandya and how much of it had been coach Ashish Nehra, seen constantly in conversation with his captain on the boundary line?

Pandya the captain has batted differently as well. During his time in charge at Gujarat, he often batted at three or four, anchoring the innings like a top-order player would do. For India, he bats as low as six or seven, finishing innings rather than building them. But even in international cricket, Pandya strikes nearly 20 points lower when captaining than otherwise. Admittedly, it is a small sample of only 14 innings, but it does beg the question of whether he may fall into the trap and trope of taking up 'added responsibility' in a format where such an attitude can be counter-productive.

Pandya's fitness is also an issue. Seam-bowling all-rounders often have to bear a high physical load, and he is no different. Injuries have plagued him throughout his career, to the extent that he has played 100 but missed 76 T20Is since his India debut. While every absence was not injury-related, a significant number were.

If not Pandya, then who?

It may be argued that Pandya's time in an IPL setup has next to no bearing on his suitability for Indian captaincy given the difference in squads, backroom personnel, time frames and other personal dynamics. If we take away that part of it, the main points in his favour are his experience, automatic selection and prioritisation of white-ball cricket. The singular point against him is his injury record.

Interestingly, India's alternatives are two players who may have been rivals for the Mumbai captaincy — Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav. Like Pandya, they are both experienced and undroppable players in the T20 format.

Bumrah’s bowling is testimony to his exceptionally sharp mind. Captaincy is never easy to judge from the outside, but he will not be an unsafe bet. He led India in Ireland for two matches on his comeback from injury last year. The major sticking point here, though, is that Bumrah is a senior all-format player like Rohit was, and therefore might have to prioritise the longer formats at times.

Yadav captained India in the bilateral series against Australia and South Africa in November and December after the ODI World Cup last year. It could be argued that he is a better option than Pandya, given that he is almost exclusively a T20 player and will therefore be even more available for the shortest format. But he will be 34 in two months' time. How long will he be around? We do not know yet.

There may be a third candidate for the captaincy, Pandya's successor at Gujarat – Shubman Gill. The 24-year-old looks set to become an automatic all-format player for India following Rohit and Kohli's retirement. He has a not-too-successful season as IPL captain under his belt, but he will lead the national team on the tour of Zimbabwe coming up this weekend. Since the BCCI have largely not leaned towards split captaincy, a younger player with the potential to play for, and lead, India for a long period of time may be an enticing prospect.

All things considered, the most likely scenario at this point in time appears that Pandya is handed the captaincy for the immediate future, with a view towards Gill taking over in a few years' time. There may be a section of fans ill at ease with such a decision, given how fresh the wounds of Pandya's MI stint are at present. But given the BCCI's faith in him as a player and a leader, it looks inevitable.

Follow Wisden for all T20 World Cup updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.