Hardik Pandya’s case as captain of the team in T20Is reportedly not yet confirmed. When Rohit Sharma did eventually retire from T20Is, well, then Pandya would have seemed an obvious choice to take over the captaincy. However, things aren’t that simple as the BCCI considered its options between Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav for captaincy. One was that of a vice-captain in the just-concluded T20 World Cup in the Caribbean; things are not that easy and breezy.
Concerns Over Hardik Pandya’s Fitness
Sources close to the development said there are divided opinions in the BCCI over the issue of Pandya’s fitness. On record, his fitness before the success at the World Cup, in which he turned out to be outstanding as a seam-bowling all-rounder, was too alarming for the board to make him permanent captain for T20Is. At 30, he has indeed suffered too many serious injuries in an eight-year-old international career.
The options of red-ball cricket proved too physically demanding, and hence Pandya opted out. He still ran into fitness problems in white-ball formats. Indeed, after having been pulled out of the ODI World Cup with only two league matches to his name, he took another five months to gain full fitness. All this raises questions about his ability to handle the rigors associated with captaincy.
The BCCI needs a leader who is fit continuously and available for the big games.
As said by a senior BCCI source,
There are compelling arguments on both sides. While Pandya’s fitness is a concern, his big contributions to India’s ICC success cannot be ignored. This has seen the board consider other options for captaincy.
Suryakumar Yadav’s case as a T20I captain is becoming serious. The exit of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from T20Is as the best batters in that format stand out. What has been brought to the fore is his leadership capabilities in the recent home series against Australia and, consequently, in South Africa. Team feedback is that this man’s style of leadership has also gone down very well.
One has been informed that they all respond very positively to Suryakumar’s captaincy. Sources state that his speech did go down really well in the dressing room, making a very strong case for him to be considered seriously as captaincy when question marks are over Pandya’s fitness.
Crucial Vote of Gambhir
This choice of captaincy, ultimately, will fall squarely upon Gautam Gambhir, the new head coach. With his experience dealing with Suryakumar at Kolkata Knight Riders, in that respect, his word is going to have some weight about who takes over T20I captaincy from Rohit Sharma.
The process to finalize the same is due soon with the BCCI and the selection committee. The first selection meeting, along with Gambhir this week, is the Ajit Agarkar-led committee. It’s the committees that retain the future of Indian cricket, which will chalk out the squads for ODIs and T20Is with Sri Lanka.
In particular, the Gambhir era of Indian cricket would begin with India’s visit to Sri Lanka for three T20Is and an equal number of ODIs—the lifetime opportunity whereby either Pandya or Suryakumar, whoever gets a chance to lead in the series and make a statement in his leadership.
One such big, thorny issue lying on the doorstep of the BCCI is therefore no less than the stiff question of succession to Rohit Sharma as T20I captaincy. Fitness uncertainties for Pandya and good feedback about Suryakumar’s leadership mean that this next selection meeting and then the tour of Sri Lanka are going to be important in deciding India’s T20I leadership.
