Recently, the reason behind Hardik Pandya missing out on the T20I captaincy was revealed by Team India‘s chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar whereby he said that his fitness issues made the team management to consider someone else for the role.
Agarkar stressed the importance of Hardik in white-ball cricket for India. Furthermore, he said that since there is a lot of time before the 2026 T20 World Cup, the think tank may experiment with some ideas that bring better outcomes.
These were some of the statements made by the 46-year-old during a joint press conference held together with the new head coach of India Gautam Gambhir in Mumbai on Monday, July 22. According to Agarkar:
“He (Hardik) is still a very important player for us and we want him to be the player that he can be because those sorts of skill sets are very difficult to find. Fitness has been a challenge for him over the last few years, and then it becomes a bit more difficult for a coach or even us, the selector”s.”
“Now we have got a bit more time till the next T20 World Cup where we can look at a few things. It is not rushed at the moment. He is an important player for us and performances are more important. That was the thought behind it. Fitness is a clear challenge and we want someone who is likely to be available more often than not.”
Following India’s T20 World Cup triumph in 2024, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from that format making Hardik Pandya the choice of many to lead the national team after him in the shortest form of the game. Hardik deputized for his Mumbai Indians’ captain and won Championships with him.
Hardik was therefore given the role of vice-captain for Men in Blue following his Mumbai Indians’ captain who won Championships. Nevertheless, Suryakumar Yadav has been brought on board as the new T20I skipper before their three-match series against Sri Lanka. Hardik’s vice-captaincy was also revoked when Shubman Gill took over the role of vice-captain.
“We have been around the group over the last year, and get feedback from the dressing room a lot” – Ajit Agarkar on Suryakumar Yadav’s appointment
Speaking about passing over the captaincy of India’s T20I to Suryakumar Yadav, Ajit Agarkar suggested that the decision was made in terms of the feedback received from the dressing room.
This comes after the cricketer-turned-analyst observed how fabulous the dynamic batter was with the bat whenever India played Twenty-20 matches. According to him, Suryakumar had completely outperformed all of his colleagues and there was no doubt about him being named team captain.
“Suryakumar Yadav was made the captain because he is one of the most deserving candidates. We know, we have been around the group over the last year, and get feedback from the dressing room a lot.”
“He has got a great cricket brain and he is one of the best T20 batters in the world. One of the main issues, obviously, was you want a captain that’s likely to play all the games. We think he is a deserving candidate and hopefully, we will see over time how he develops into the role.”
Throughout the end of 2023, Suryakumar Yadav acted as India’s temporary leader in two T20I series. At home, he led India to a 4-1 victory over Australia. He was also the captain in another series during the same period in South Africa.
The first match was called off because of the bad weather hence the series ended on a 1-1 draw. He will start his full-time captaincy career in the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. The first match is on the coming Saturday, 27th July at Pallekele.
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