Gautam Gambhir Reportedly Did Not Directly Request Suryakumar Yadav for India Captaincy: Insight into Hardik Pandya’s Omission

Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are currently the most talked-about cricketers in India. While Pandya has been demoted, Yadav has been promoted to Indian T20I captain. Surprisingly, Pandya is not even the vice-captain, although he is part of the T20I team for the Sri Lanka Tour. Reports suggest Suryakumar Yadav is seen as a long-term captaincy prospect in the shortest format, making Pandya’s demotion unexpected, especially since he was the vice-captain during India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign.

The decision by new Indian cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir to choose Suryakumar as the T20I captain was reportedly not a direct call. A BCCI official told Hindustan Times, “Although Gambhir did not directly pitch for Surya in the call, he made it clear that he would want to work with a captain whose workload does not become a stumbling block. Agarkar was clear with his views.”

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has expressed support for all-rounder Hardik Pandya to take on the T20I captaincy. Kaif stated, “I think Hardik Pandya should have been the captain for the Sri Lanka tour. Hardik has captained the Gujarat Titans for two years, and in their first year itself, they made it to the final… Hardik has experience captaining the T20I side. He was also the vice-captain at the T20 World Cup. Now, a new coach has arrived, there will be new planning. Surya is also a good player, he has been playing for years. He is a No.1 T20 player, and I hope he will shoulder the captain’s responsibility well. But I feel they should have backed Hardik.”

Kaif added, “Gambhir is an experienced captain and coach… He understands cricket very well. I don’t think Hardik has done anything wrong that he should not get the captaincy. He has experience, has captained in the IPL, and led a new team (Gujarat Titans) to the trophy with fresh and young faces, which is a huge thing. He has made the Titans win by working from Ground Zero in the IPL… I think he was entitled to the captaincy. So let’s just wait and see.”