NEWS
Follow UsIndia’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar said Hardik Pandya’s fitness played a big role in Suryakumar Yadav being appointed as India’s new T20I captain.
Pandya was Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies but when the squad was announced for the three T20Is against Sri Lanka, starting on July 27, it was SKY who was handed over the T20I captaincy.
Pandya has been rested for the three ODIs but is part of the T20I set-up. More surprisingly, Shubman Gill was appointed as vice-captain. India will be without Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, who announced their retirement from T20Is after winning the 2024 T20WC.
SKY has been India’s most prolific batter in the format ever since his debut in 2021. No other Indian batter has scored more runs than the Mumbaikar since his T20 debut (2,340 runs at an average of 43.3). The 33-year-old also has four hundreds in this period, the most by any batter worldwide.
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“SKY is one of the deserving candidates. He is one of the best T20 batters in the world. We feel that Surya has all the necessary qualities to be a good captain. We wanted a captain, who is likely to play all the games,” said Agarkar in the press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.
“We listened to the feedbacks from the dressing room. We received good feedbacks about Surya and we believe he has the qualities and hopefully he can develop into the role. We wanted a captain who is around. We will see how he will do in two years time."
Pandya was India’s vice-captain in T20 cricket for a while, following his successful stint as Gujarat Titans’ skipper at the Indian Premier League for two seasons. Besides playing as captain over the last three years in IPL, he also led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is.
Meanwhile, SKY has led India in seven T20Is. Surya captained India to a 4-1 win over Australia right after the 50-over World Cup last year. The opportunity came after Pandya injured his ankle midway through the World Cup and was out until the start of IPL 2024. After Australia, Surya led India in a three-match T20I series in South Africa, which was drawn 1-1.
Talking about Pandya, Agarkar said: “As far as Hardik is concerned, he is still a very important player. And that’s what we want him to be, those skills are hard to find.
“Fitness has been something that he’s struggled with. As selectors, it becomes difficult then. The thought behind it was that we want someone (as captain) who is likely to be available more.
“We also feel we can manage Hardik better, we’ve seen what he can do with the bat and ball in the World Cup… We speak to every player, about whether their role has changed. And yeah we’ve spoken to him…”
Agarkar, however, made it clear that SKY won’t be considered for the 50-over format, at least for now. “At this point, Surya is being seen just as a T20 player, not being considered for ODIs.”
Meanwhile, Jadeja has retired from the T20Is but is still available for the other two formats. The left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, however, wasn’t included in the ODI squad for Sri Lanka. But Agarkar has made it clear that the 35-year-old hasn’t been dropped and is still in the scheme of things for next year’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
“Jadeja was not dropped from ODIs. The decision was made considering the Test workload coming up soon after. We should have clarified that after selection that ‘No Jadeja has not been dropped’. He’s very much in the scheme of things.”
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