The Indian cricket team departed for Sri Lanka on Monday to participate in the upcoming series of white-ball matches. The series is set to start on July 27, featuring three T20 matches followed by three ODIs. In the T20 matches, the Indian team will be captained by prominent batsman Suryakumar Yadav, while the regular captain, Rohit Sharma, will take charge for the ODIs. This decision was quite unexpected, especially since all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was considered the most suitable candidate to replace Rohit, was selected instead of Suryakumar. Additionally, Pandya was replaced as the vice-captain by young batsman Shubman Gill.
Before heading to Sri Lanka, the newly appointed head coach, Gautam Gambhir, and the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, held a press conference in Mumbai.
When asked about choosing Gill as the vice-captain for both T20 and ODI matches, Agarkar complimented the young player, saying he is talented in all types of games.
“When Hardik was hurt, it was a bit difficult. But Rohit was still there, which helped us a lot. He took charge. We don’t want that situation to happen again. We think Shubman is the right choice because he can play in all three formats and has shown great skill in the past year,” Agarkar explained.
This series also welcomes back KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who were not chosen in some recent series. Rishabh Pant, who is both a wicketkeeper and a batter, is also part of the team.
Agarkar mentioned that there’s still a chance for players like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and even Pandya to take on leadership roles.
“The first step is to help Pant start playing again. He’s an important player for us, even though he hasn’t played much cricket recently. We’ll watch and see how he performs. We don’t want to put too much pressure on someone who’s just returned after being away from the game for over a year. KL hasn’t played in the T20 format for some time now,” he mentioned.
