India’s chief selector Ajit Agar has finally revealed the reason why Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as India’s next T20I captain over Hardik Pandya, stating that the all-rounder’s fitness was something that tipped the scales in Surya’s favour.
Speaking at the press conference ahead of Sri Lanka series, Agarkar said, “Hardik Pandya is a very important player, we have seen it in the World Cup and we need him, but his fitness is a big challenge now. I think we can manage him better. He is still part of our team… Surya Kumar Yadav has all the necessary abilities (to be the captain)…”
“So I mean, these chats had happened before as well and you know, it’s not overnight that you just decide that someone should be captain or shouldn’t be captain. There is obviously a lot of thought goes in. You get a lot of feedback from the dressing room as well. What what sort of qualities that you’re looking for. And I mean, the biggest thing is a captain should be on the park more often than not I mean, that’s that’s a prerequisite really, and hopefully Surya does that and so far there’s never been a concern with his T20 batting anyway.” Agarkar added.
Notably, Pandya had been the T20 captain of the Indian team since the 2022 twenty over World Cup and was also the vice-captain of Rohit Sharma‘s World Cup-winning side last month. However, not only did the Indian selectors name Suryakumar Yadav as T20 captain for the series against Sri Lanka, they also named Shubman Gill as his deputy instead of Hardik. Ajit Agarkar’s statement should put to rest all rumours as to why Hardik was snubbed for the captaincy.
Pandya was also in the news recently when he and his wife Nataša Stanković announced their separation in a post on Instagram, while stating that they will co-parent their son Agastya.