Suryakumar Yadav is the new T20I captain of India. He was not in the race, and Hardik Pandya was the only candidate. However, the selection committee and new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, surprised everyone by giving the captain’s armband to SKY following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format.
Hardik was India’s vice-captain in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and had led the Men in Blue on several occasions in the past. In fact, he was the skipper of the side after the selector stopped considering Rohit Sharma in the shortest format after the 2022 T20 World Cup. However, Hardik got injured during the 2023 ODI World Cup, and the BCCI went back to Rohit, who scripted India’s success story in the global tournament in the West Indies and the United States of America.
It was reported that all was not well between Hardik and SKY after the latter won the captaincy race ahead of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
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Interestingly, India defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 under Surya’s leadership. After India clinched the series, Gambhir spoke to players in the dressing room, and Hardik also shared his viewpoint.
Hardik praised Suryakumar for his bowling changes, which led to the team’s victory in the final T20I. SKY and Rinku Singh took two wickets each.
“As Gauti bhai said, Surya, well done for the way you rotated the bowlers, showing faith in the players. Your moves were brilliant and fantastic,” he said.
When Hardik said all this, the camera panned towards Surya, who looked a bit uncomfortable. SKY is not used to such praise from a teammate when the cameras are rolling.
Hardik also praised Shubman Gill and Riyan Parag for adding 54 runs. “We were challenged as we lost wickets at regular intervals. Shubman and Riyan batted well, and their partnership was brilliant,” he said.
Hardik hailed Washington Sundar (25 off 18 balls) and Ravi Bishnoi (8) for their meaningful contributions with the bat.
“The lower order has to chip in, and this is what Washy and Bishi did.”