Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar said that a ‘little injustice’ has been done to all-rounder Hardik Pandya after Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as the T20I captain for India’s white-ball tour to Sri Lanka starting from July 27 onwards.
India has named Suryakumar Yadav as the captain of their men’s T20I team for the tour of Sri Lanka, with Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the T20I and ODI sides.
Notably, Hardik, who was leading the T20I sides in the tours after the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 debacle in Australia, where England beat India by 10 wickets in the semis, has been removed from the leadership roles. He led India in 16 T20I matches, winning 10, losing five, and one ending in a tie. His win percentage was 62.50.
Hardik’s removal from leadership came despite his strong performance in the T20 World Cup triumph, scoring 144 runs in six innings at an average of 48.00 and a strike rate of 151.57, with a half-century and best score of 50*. He also took 11 wickets in eight games at an average of 17.36 and an economy rate of 7.64, with the best figures of 3/20.
Also, Suryakumar led India in two series just after the 50-over World Cup 2023 final loss to Australia, in which Australia toured India and India made a tour to South Africa. Overall, he led India in seven matches, winning five and losing two. He won the series against Australia, while the series against South Africa ended in a draw.
Speaking on Star Sports during the ‘Follow the Blues’ programme, Bangar said that though Suryakumar has captaincy experience in domestic cricket and brings the best out of players, there is still some injustice meted out to Hardik Pandya.
‘It is not that Suryakumar Yadav has played less domestic cricket before playing international cricket. So he has a lot of experience, I think he has led Mumbai in domestic cricket as well and knows how to extract the best from the players,’ said Bangar.
‘So there is nothing wrong in Suryakumar being made the captain. I fully believe that he will do a good job but I still feel a little injustice has been meted out to Hardik,’ added the former Indian all-rounder.
Bangar expressed his surprise at Hardik not being the captain, because to him, it seemed like had Rohit not been the captain for a series against Afghanistan earlier this year when Hardik was injured, the all-rounder would have continued as a captain anyways.
‘I am a bit surprised as far as Hardik not being the captain of the T20 team is concerned because even before the previous T20 World Cup it seemed like if Rohit had not become the captain and Hardik had not gotten injured at that time, Hardik only would have become the captain,’ said Bangar.
India’s tour of Sri Lanka will start from July 27 onwards. The tour will kick-start with a three-match T20I series, followed by a three-match ODI series, which will start from August 2.
The Pallekele International Stadium will be hosting the T20I leg of the series while the R Premadasa is getting to host the 50-over matches, as per ESPNCricinfo.
The three ODIs will be held on August 2, August 4, and August 7.
Both teams will be taking to the field with new head coaches. While legendary all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya has been named as the interim head coach for Lankan Lions, this will also be the first assignment for former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir as the head coach, succeeding the T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid.
India’s last tour of Sri Lanka for a bilateral white-ball series came back in July 2021, with Dravid coaching the Shikhar Dhawan-led side. India won the ODI series 2-1, while Sri Lanka secured the T20I series by the same margin.
T20I Squad for Sri Lanka series: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman 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, Mohammed Siraj.
ODI Squad for Sri Lanka series: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman 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.
