File photo of Suryakumar Yadav (left) and Hardik Pandya© AFP
The firebrand Gautam Gambhir announced his arrival as India’s head coach by successfully ensuring the ascension of Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20 captain in place of Hardik Pandya, who seemed primed for the leadership role after Rohit Sharma’s international retirement from the format. India’s six-match white-ball series against Sri Lanka isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill bilateral engagement for Gambhir, whose mind seems to have aligned with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar on the issue of captaincy. Both men decided unanimously to make Suryakumar the skipper keeping in mind the next T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026.
The series against Sri Lanka is an important precursor to that build-up.
The first T20 International will be held on July 27, followed by games on July 28 and 30. All the ties will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
The ODIs will be held on August 2, 4 and 7 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
It was under captain Gambhir, that Indian cricket fans took note of Suryakumar, popular as ‘SKY’, an indulgent acronym coined by the then Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, who would regularly praise the youngster for performing the finisher’s role to perfection.
It is understood that Pandya, the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup-winning squad, who bowled the historic last over in the final against South Africa, was intimated about the decision on Tuesday by both Agarkar and Gambhir about the hard call.
Pandya was also the vice-captain in the 50-over World Cup last year before his injury. With Shubman Gill being appointed deputy in both formats, it is now clear that the selection committee and Gambhir, are keen to look beyond Pandya as a leadership option.
What worked against Pandya was his frequent injury breakdowns. He played only 46 out of the 79 T20I games from Jan 1, 2022. In this period, Suryakumar missed only a few games and that too due to sports hernia surgery.
He led India to a 4-1 win over Australia in a T20I series last November and followed it up with a 1-1 draw in South Africa.
Pandya is nonetheless there in the T20 squad and has opted out of ODIs due to personal reasons.
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