‘Short-term option’ – Former Kiwis players makes controversial claim on Suryakumar Yadav

Team India’s newly appointed T20I skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, has started his captaincy stint on a magnificent note with back-to-back wins over Sri Lanka to clinch the three matches of the T20I series by 3-0 on July 30th at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. The former world number one T20I batter has led Team India in the past against Australia and South Africa, but now things seem a bit different as he is not the interim captain of any tour any more. The chief selectors, Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir, have picked SKY as a successor to Rohit Sharma, who led Team India to win the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.

Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav emerged for a big role after the arrival of Gautam Gambhir as head coach, as the selection committee also got great feedback about the current world number two T20I batter, which made him pipped Hardik Pandya for this role. Notably, the stylish right-handed batter has been known as a T20I specialist by the selectors, as he is currently out of the ODI set-up as of now. However, former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris feels that new head coach Gautam Gambhir didn’t get a natural skipper, as Suryakumar Yadav seems to be a short-term option for the new head coach and for the team as well.

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“I think he’s a short-term option. I don’t think Gambhir has a natural captain amongst the players that he has right now. He’s buying himself time as to who will be the next long-term captain,” said Styris, speaking to India Today.

If SKY does a decent enough job, then he might be the captain at the next T20 World Cup: Scott Styris

The former Kiwi all-rounder further stated that if things go well with Suryakumar Yadav’s stint, then the star batter might lead the side in the 2026 T20 World Cup, where they will be heading as the defending champions alongside the hosts of the marquee event. The legendary cricketer further acknowledged that he likes that Suryakumar Yadav made captain and feels it was the best decision.

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“If he (SKY) does a decent enough job, then he might be the captain at the next T20 World Cup. And then after that, you can look at Gill or any of the other potential options around. But yeah, I think it’s a really clever decision,” he added further.

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