After Losing T20I Captaincy, Hardik Pandya Hugs Suryakumar Yadav to Signal 'All is Well'

Suryakumar Yadav will lead India in a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, which starts on July 27 in Pallekele. The 33-year-old right-handed batter was appointed as India’s captain for the shortest format series after Rohit Sharma’s retirement. Rohit, who became the third Indian captain to win an ICC trophy, announced his decision to retire from T20Is after India’s win in the T20 World Cup 2024 final last month.

Surya, who made his T20I captaincy debut for India last year against Australia and has won five out of seven matches played so far.

The Indian team left for Sri Lanka on Monday (July 22), and ahead of the team’s departure to Colombo, star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was seen hugging Suryakumar at Mumbai airport. The clip of the warm embrace between the two is now going viral on the internet.

Hardik was India’s vice captain in the T20 World Cup 2024 and was seen as the leading contender to become the new T20I captain, but instead, BCCI appointed Suryakumar as the new captain.

During India’s new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first official press conference in Mumbai on Monday, before the team’s departure for Sri Lanka, chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the reason behind appointing Surya as India’s captain.

According to him, the former world No. 1 T20I batter was one of the deserving candidates and was picked for the job after receiving feedback from the dressing room.

“Because he’s one of the deserving candidates. We’ve been around the group over the last year, getting feedback from the dressing room. Sky is still one of the best T20 batters in the world. One of the main issues is obviously that you want a captain who’s likely to play all the games. We think he’s a deserving candidate, and hopefully, over time, we’ll see how he develops into the role,” Agarkar said.

The former Indian pacer, who assumed the role of chief selector last year, also talked about Hardik’s role and added that the 30-year-old star is a very important player for India.

“As for Hardik, he’s still a very important player for us. We want him to be that player he can be because his skill sets are very difficult to find. Fitness has obviously been a challenge for him over the last few years. That becomes a little bit more difficult for a coach or selectors when trying to decide. We’ve got a bit more time until the next T20 World Cup, so we can look at a few things. It’s not rushed at the moment. We want him to be an important player for us, and hopefully, his performances will be more important.”

“The main thing is that we want guys who are available all the time. In this way, we also feel we can manage Hardik a little bit better because he’s an important player for us. We’ve seen that even in this World Cup, his performances with both the bat and the ball are important, and that is more important to the team than anything else. We speak to every player. He’s been part of the team anyway; it’s not like he’s been left out,” he added.