The Indian cricket team is experiencing a shift following their victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup. They will now be led by new head coach Gautam Gambhir. In T20 matches, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja will not be playing as Indian cricket moves into a new phase. During this time, India’s visit to Sri Lanka for three T20 matches and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) is particularly important for several reasons. This will be Gambhir’s first task as India’s coach, and the teams selected for these series might hint at what’s to come.
Previously, it was commonly reported that Hardik Pandya would be the captain for the T20I series. After the 2022 T20 World Cup, Pandya was considered the future leader for India’s T20I team. However, plans changed, and Rohit was appointed captain for the T20 World Cup. Now, with Rohit retiring from T20Is, Pandya, who was the vice-captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup, is expected to naturally take over as India’s T20I captain.
On Tuesday, several news outlets mentioned that Suryakumar Yadav is now a strong candidate for the T20I captaincy, especially because of Hardik Pandya’s ongoing injury problems. This has led Gautam Gambhir to doubt if Pandya is a suitable long-term choice for the T20I captaincy.
A recent report in the Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran suggests something intriguing. It indicates that Suryakumar’s growing consideration for the captaincy role might be influenced by Rohit Sharma. All three players—Suryakumar, Rohit, and Pandya—are part of the Mumbai Indians team in the IPL. In the 2024 IPL season, Pandya took over as the captain of Mumbai Indians from Rohit.
The report also said that Rohit and Gambhir will be working together for a long time in both one-day and Test matches. Actually, Rohit agreed to Gambhir becoming the coach for India. The report mentioned that Pandya has a good relationship with Jay Shah, who is the secretary of BCCI.
Pandya played a big role in India, led by Rohit, winning the T20 World Cup. He got the important wicket of South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen, who had scored 50 runs, in the final of the T20 World Cup when things were tough.
