File photo of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya© AFP
Indian cricket team is seeing winds of change after the 2024 T20 World Cup win. The side will now be guided by new head coach Gautam Gambhir. In the T20Is, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja will no longer play as Indian cricket enters a phase of transition. In the midst of this, India’s tour of Sri Lanka (three T20Is and three ODIs) holds extra significance for a number of reasons. This will be Gambhir’s first assignment as India coach and the sides picked for the two series may give an indication on what lies ahead.
Earlier, it was widely reported that Hardik Pandya will be the captain for the T20I series. After the 2022 T20 World Cup, Pandya was seen as the long-term choice for India’s T20I captaincy. However, situation changed and Rohit was made the captain for the T20 World Cup. But now, with Rohit retired from T20Is, Pandya – designated vice-captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup – was thought to be the automatic successor as India’s T20I captain.
But on Tuesday, several publications reported that Suryakumar Yadav has emerged as the dark horse for T20I captaincy with Hardik Pandya’s continuous injury issues a reason behind Gautam Gambhir not being convinced over him being a long term option for T20I captaincy.
Now, a report in Hindi daily Dainik Jagran has made an interesting claim. It said that Suryakumar’s rise as an captaincy choice looks to have an impression of Rohit Sharma. All three players SKY, Rohit and Pandya play for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. In IPL 2024, Pandya replaced Rohit as MI captain.
The report further claimed that Rohit and Gambhir will be working together in the long term in the ODI and Test formats. In fact, Rohit gave his nod for Gambhir’s appointment as India coach. The report added Pandya is close to BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
Pandya had a huge impact in Rohit-led India clinching the T20 World Cup title. He took the crucial wicket of South Africa’s half-centurion Heinrich Klaasen in the T20 World Cup final when the chips were down.
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