Suryakumar Yadav to Lead India in T20Is Against Sri Lanka
Suryakumar Yadav is expected to replace Hardik Pandya as India’s T20I captain for the forthcoming visit of Sri Lanka, which is an unexpected development.
This choice was made in response to worries about Hardik Pandya’s fitness after he has been dealing with injuries.
For the next tour of Sri Lanka, Suryakumar Yadav will take over as India’s T20I captain, replacing Hardik Pandya as the team’s vice-captain.
After leading India to victory in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last month, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20 International cricket together with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. Suryakumar will replace them.
Although Hardik led the Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in the IPL and was Rohit’s deputy at the T20 World Cup, he is a more seasoned leader having captained India in three ODIs and sixteen T20Is. However, it is believed that workload management and fitness issues may have worked against him.
After suffering an ankle injury during the 50-over World Cup at home in October and November of last year, Hardik was sidelined until the beginning of the 2024 Indian Premier League, when he made a comeback to lead Mumbai. Of the 79 T20Is India have played since the beginning of 2022, Hardik has only appeared in 46 of them.
On the domestic circuit, Suryakumar captained Mumbai in the past. More recently, in the T20I series played in November of last year, he guided India to a 4-1 series victory over Australia, which was followed by a 1-1 series result in South Africa. In a formatted first-choice India XI, Suryakumar is also among the top names.
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After the T20 World Cup, India’s new coach Gautam Gambhir will take over from Rahul Dravid, and his first assignment will be the T20Is in Sri Lanka. Additionally, it’s viewed as a first step toward preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which India is co-hosting in 2026.
Following a 4-1 T20I series victory, a youthful Indian team captained by Shubman Gill had just returned from Zimbabwe earlier in the week. Only three players from the World Cup winning team were on the roster.
It is known that in order to finalize the traveling party, the selectors will convene on Wednesday. The visit will include three ODIs in addition to three T20Is.
