The selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, chose to overlook senior players Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal in their squad for the upcoming series.
A shocking choice has been named to lead the Indian cricket team in a five-match T20I series against Australia, commencing just days after their disheartening defeat in the 2023 ICC World Cup final against the same opponent.
The upcoming T20I series kicks off a mere four days after the World Cup final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, with the first match scheduled in Visakhapatnam on Thursday (November 23).
Suryakumar Yadav’s appointment as the captain in the shortest format is a result of an ankle injury suffered by all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Pandya, who had been leading India in T20Is since the last year’s T20 World Cup, sustained the injury during a group match against Bangladesh in Pune in the recently-concluded World Cup. The injury, later identified as a ligament tear, not only ruled him out of the remainder of the World Cup and the upcoming Australia T20Is but also raises uncertainties about his participation in the white-ball leg of the forthcoming tour of South Africa starting in December.
The selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, chose to overlook senior players Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal in their squad for the upcoming series.
Suryakumar, who holds the role of India’s designated vice-captain in the T20 format, had a modest performance in the World Cup after stepping in for Pandya in the middle-order. Scoring just 106 runs in seven outings with an average of 17.66, his highest score was a 47-ball 49 against England on a challenging wicket in Lucknow. In the final against Australia, he managed only 18 runs off 28 balls.
This series marks the initiation of preparations for the T20 World Cup scheduled for the following year. The tournament will take place immediately after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League and will be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA.
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India squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
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