Former Indian middle-order batter Mohammad Kaif opines that Hardik Pandya deserved the T20I captaincy over Suryakumar Yadav. The 43-year-old observed that the all-rounder has done well as a captain in IPL, headlined by winning the title with the Gujarat Titans in his first attempt, but is willing to give Suryakumar a chance.
With the BCCI unveiling the squads for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour, Suryakumar Yadav earned the T20I captaincy over Pandya, who was thought to be the frontrunner for the role. According to reports, the selectors considered Pandya a lot more injury prone, leading to Suryakumar getting the nod as captain.
Speaking to IANS, Kaif underlined that he thought Pandya would become the captain, given his good record and that he hadn't done anything wrong not to be given the role. He elaborated:
"Mujhe lagta hai Hardik Pandya captain banne chahiye they. Hardik Pandya ne 2 saal Gujarat ki kaptaani kari hai, finals mein leke aaye hain. Ek baar jeete ek baar haare. Hardik vice-captain bhi they jab abhi World Cup hua, toh abhi naye coach aaye hain, nayi planning hogi, kya tareeka hai mujhe nahin maalum. Par Surya bhi kharaab kaam nahin kar rahe hain, player acche hain, T20I mein No.1 player hain aur acchi kaptaani karenge mujhe ummeed hai. Hardik Pandya ne aisa koi galat kaam nahin kiya jisse unhein kaptaani nahin mili."
(I think that Hardik Pandya should have remained the captain. He led the Gujarat Titans for two years, made it to the finals on both occasions, and won a title. Hardik was already leading the T20I team, he was the vice-captain in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Now there's a new coach, so there will be some kind of planning, I don't know).
(Surya is also doing quite well, he is not doing a bad job as such. He has also been playing for quite a while now and doing well for the team. I expect him to lead the team well, but I thought Hardik will be the captain)
Having captained in 16 T20Is, India have won 11 of them under Pandya. Suryakumar has led the Men in Blue in 7 T20Is, winning 5 of them.
India squads for Sri Lanka series:
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
The tour begins on July 27th with the T20I series.
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