The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) announced both the ODI and T20I squads, on Thursday, July 18, for India's tour of Sri Lanka later this month.
It came as no surprise when Rohit Sharma was picked up as the ODI captain for the series as BCCI secretary Jay Shah had already confirmed that he will lead Team India during the ICC Champions Trophy starting February 2025.
However, when it came to the T20I captaincy, it was a surprise when Suryakumar Yadav was preferred over India's T20 World Cup 2024 vice-captain Hardik Pandya, who was also in prime position to take over the leadership post Rohit's retirement.
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Why Suryakumar Yadav was picked as India's T20I captain over Hardik Pandya?
Despite being the deputy to Rohit Sharma during the T20 World Cup 2024 and being one of the best candidates to take over the leadership role in the format, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was not picked as India's T20I captain for the Sri Lanka series.
Instead, star batter Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as the next T20I captain, with the support of the new Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Hardik was not even considered for the vice captaincy as it was given to youngster Shubman Gill, who had led the Indian team during the Zimbabwe series, in which the team won 4-1.
Ahead of BCCI's squad and captaincy announcement for the India's tour of Sri Lanka, there were several reports indicating that the Indian allrounder might not be a suitable captaincy option for the long-term due to his fitness and injury concerns in recent years.
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'Players trust SKY more' - How Hardik lost the T20I captaincy battle?
However, there might have been other reasons apart from injury concerns, for him being ignored for the captaincy.
According to an Indian Express report, ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, BCCI had also taken feedback from both the management and players, in which a majority of them supported SKY over Hardik.
"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.
Further, the report suggested that Surya's calm approach and communication skills during last year's T20I series against Australia and South Africa had impressed the Indian players, who were more comfortable with his style of captaincy as it was similar to that of former captain Rohit Sharma.
Later, a BCCI official was reported to have said that Hardik's leadership skills did not inspire confidence in the players
MORE: How has Hardik Pandya performed as captain in T20 cricket?
As the captain of the Mumbai Indians during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, the all-rounder had a terrible outing both as the skipper and a player. There were also reports of rifts among the senior players in the dressing room due to the team's poor performance in the tournament.
"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 said.
Under the previous leadership of Rohit and former Indian head coach Rahul Dravid, he was given the vice-captaincy role as he was fully expected to take over the captaincy post Rohit's retirement. However, Gambhir wants stability in the team and does not want a captain whose workload needed to be managed due to injury concerns.
Additionally, Hardik had asked for a break from the national team for the ODI series due to "personal reasons", which might not have gone well with the current head coach's suggestion that all players must be available for the ODIs as it was considered to be the start of preparation for the Champions Trophy next year.
There were some individuals in the BCCI who felt that Hardik might be the better team to take the team forward, but with the support and insistence of chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir, the final decision was made that Suryakumar Yadav would become India's next T20I captain.
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