Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif claims Hardik Pandya was stripped of India's T20I captaincy due to fitness concerns, dismissing this as an excuse. Latif argued that many successful captains were not at peak fitness.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has joined the list of former players questioning the reason behind Hardik Pandya’s not becoming India’s new T20I skipper. Notably, Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar and newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir made a bold decision, naming Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I skipper over star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was named Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the 2024 T20 World Cup title win.
The 30-year-old cricketer who led the Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in their inaugural edition as well as guided his side to the finals of the IPL 2023 was expected to take over from Rohit Sharma, but the BCCI pointed out his fitness concerns as a reason why the management has decided to appoint Suryakumar Yadav over him for a big role. In addition to this, the Baroda-born all-rounder also lost the T20I captaincy to Shubman Gill, as the selection committee wanted some young players to prepare for the future.
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Meanwhile, former Pakistani player Rashid Latif, who seems very bold about his views and opinions, asserted that fitness seems to be an excuse for not making Hardik Pandya the skipper and reiterated that if the selection committee felt that Hardik was unfit, they should have given him an unfit certificate. The cricketer turned analyst feels that there are a plethora of players who are unfit at this moment but take the charge to lead the side. The legendary cricketer further said that if Suryakumar Yadav wasn’t there, then they must have given the captaincy spot to Rishabh Pant.
“No, here they (the claims) just hand him a certificate saying he isn’t fit and there are concerns about his fitness. There are plenty of players who weren’t super fit but still became great captains. So, I think it was just an excuse. Because if Surya wasn’t around, then Rishabh (Pant) would have been the captain since you have to look at the future,” Latif said.
Interestingly, Hardik Pandya is now set to play under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy for the first time in the three matches of the T20I series against Sri Lanka. The first game is set to commence on July 27 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
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