Team India-led by Rohit Sharma finally end the ICC trophy drought last month, winning the T20 World Cup held in USA and the West Indies. However, soon after that the captain announced his retirement from the shorter format, and two more retirements were announced subsequently. Virat Kohli, India's talismanic batter, and Ravindra Jadeja, key all-rounder, also joined the list.
Hardik Pandya was Rohit's deputy at the T20 World Cup and in all likelihood it was understood that he'll be taking over the mantle from his predecessor. However, this was not the case as Gautam Gambhir, team's new head coach, along with the management presented a major shock.
Suryakumar Yadav was announced as Team India's next leader in the shorter format and emerging star Shubman Gill was elevated to the vice-captaincy role in both T20Is and ODIs.
While Hardik boasts of a rich CV as captain, BCCI felt right to move forward with Suryakumar as the new leader. Hardik's fitness and workload management were key factors that led BCCI to come to this decision.
Now as the team prepares for its first assignment under head coach Gambhir, BCCI organised a press conference ahead of the departure. Gambhir along with BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar were part of the presser, during which the latter also cleared air on the subject surrounding the choice of captaincy.
"Regarding Hardik, he's still a very important player for us. Fitness has obviously been a challenge for him... Then it becomes difficult for the coach or selectors. Fitness is a clear challenge and we want someone who is available more often than not. Having said that, we believe Surya has the qualities necessary to be a captain. 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, whether their role has changed. And yeah we've spoken to him," said Agarkar.
If we rewind to the past, the premier all-rounder has been prone to injuries, and was forced to leave the ODI World Cup midway due to an ankle injury and remained out of action until the start of IPL 2024. If we look at the numbers, Hardik featured in 46 of the 79 T20Is India played since the beginning of 2022.
Suryakumar, on the other hand, also has a bit of a captaincy experience. The middle-order batter has led Mumbai previously in the domestic circuit, and also took charge of India not so long back. Under Suryakumar's leadership India clinched a 4-1 series win against Australia last November.
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