Suryakumar Yadav is set to be appointed India’s new T20I captain ahead of Hardik Pandya, the incumbent vice-captain of the side, for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
Suryakumar will take over from Rohit Sharma, who retired from T20Is, along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, after leading India to T20 World Cup glory in the Caribbean last month.
Though Hardik was Rohit’s deputy at the T20 World Cup and is a more experienced captain – he has led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is, apart from leading Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in the IPL – it is understood fitness concerns and workload management may have tipped the scales against him.
It is learned that both Gambhir and Agarkar spoke to Pandya about this change of plan yesterday and explained to him that a long-term option was being finalised to ensure stability.
The T20 leadership role fell vacant after Rohit Sharma said goodbye to his international career in the shortest format following India’s World Cup triumph last month in the West Indies.
Pandya, one of the heroes of that victory, will take a break during the three-match ODI series against the island nation due to “personal reasons”. The T20Is against Sri Lanka will run from July 27 to 30 in Pallekele, followed by the ODIs from August 2 to 7 in Colombo.
