Former coach reveals why Suryakumar Yadav was named captain over Hardik Pandya

India’s star cricketer, Suryakumar Yadav, has pipped Hardik Pandya to be the next T20I captain of the Indian cricket team. Following the retirement of T20 World Cup 2024-winning captain Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, who was leading the side in the shortest format of the game after India’s 10-wicket defeat against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup, was expected to fill in his shoes. Notably, Hardik Pandya’s name rose after his successful stint with the Gujarat Titans, where he led the side to win the title in the IPL 2022, while his side finished as the runners-up in the IPL 2023 after MS Dhoni led CSK to topple them in the final two balls of the game.

Gautam Gambhir replaced legendary Rahul Dravid as head coach after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup. Hardik Pandya was Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the showpiece event and was the leading contender to replace him as the next T20I captain of the Indian cricket team. However, Suryakumar Yadav was handed the mantle as chief selector Ajit Agarkar stated that he needed someone who could be physically fit and remain available for many of the tours.

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Suryakumar Yadav is someone who has exhibited leadership qualities throughout his tenure of being with the Indian team: R Sridhar

Notably, Hardik Pandya’s continuous and pro-longed injuries have been the major issues since he was ruled out of the ODI World Cup 2023 after a knee injury in the clash against Bangladesh at the MCA in Pune. In the same vein, former India fielding coach R. Sridhar feels that Ajit Agarkar made the right call to name Suryakumar Yadav as the new skipper. He further revealed that Suryakumar has been selected for the T20Is only and has less workload to keep focussing on his batting and captaincy in the shorter white-ball format. The 54-year-old cricketer feels that Gautam Gambhir has a great relationship with SKY being together in KKR, and his batting display makes him exceptional.

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“He has been vice-captain and was at KKR before that when Gambhir was the captain, he’s obviously been good with Mumbai Indians when they need him. He is someone who has exhibited leadership qualities throughout his tenure of being with the Indian team. That’s held him in good stead, again falling back to his rapport with the other players, how they look up to him. He is the no. 1 T20 batter in the world, that is something which goes in his favour as well,” R Sridhar said on Hindustan Times.

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