Suryakumar Yadav’s goodwill amongst the players he has played with was a big reason for him being named the new India T20I captain for the Sri Lanka tour over Hardik Pandya, reports stated.
Hardik Pandya was the natural successor to become India T20I captain after Rohit Sharma retired from the format post India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win. Hardik was the vice-captain of the trophy-winning Indian team.
Hardik’s record as India's captain was also good as he led in 19 matches, 16 T20Is, and 3 ODIs. He won 12 of those matches. He had captained India when Rohit Sharma was focusing on ODIs before the ICC World Cup 2023 at home.
It seemed like Rohit Sharma won’t captain India in the T20 World Cup as well, but the Mumbai batter was persuaded to have one more crack at the ICC title and Hardik Pandya was named his deputy.
Logically Hardik Pandya should’ve been named India T20I captain, but BCCI selectors and new India head coach Gautam Gambhir saw Suryakumar Yadav as a contender also.
“A decision to make Rohit the captain over Hardik was made after the all-rounder’s fitness status remained uncertain. Head coach Rahul Dravid was also persuaded to stay on till this year's T20 World Cup with the assurance that will work with Rohit as the leader.
After all this came the IPL, where Hardik had a disastrous outing as a leader and player. This saw many lose faith in his abilities.
On the face of it, a poor IPL campaign shouldn’t influence India's selection. But his leadership skills didn’t inspire confidence. It didn’t help that “he could never win the dressing room at MI and many felt he couldn’t be trusted to rally the national team together,” a BCCI official told Hindustan Times.
Hardik, who had the backing of Rohit and Dravid, was left in the lurch once they were out of the picture after the T20 World Cup. He then asked for a break from Sri Lanka ODIs due to personal reasons which played a part as well.
“All this was going on; the BCCI received feedback from the players. They preferred Surya over Hardik and were more comfortable with his leadership”, reported The Indian Express. "It is said that the feedback received by the board was that players trusted Surya more than Pandya and were more comfortable working under him," said the report.
It added that Surya's calm approach and communication skills during last year's home series against Australia and in the South Africa tour impressed the Indian players. His captaincy was compared with Rohit Sharma’s, with an emphasis on one-on-one communication.
While selectors debated on the decision, with a few feeling that Pandya was the right candidate to take India's T20 team forward; chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir’s opinion were the dealbreakers.
(Hindustan Times report)
