The Indian players expressed to BCCI that they would rather play with Suryakumar Yadav as captain because they felt he was more trustworthy than Hardik Pandya.
By a wide margin, Hardik Pandya is India’s finest seam-bowling all-around player. It is beyond dispute. He was also the greatest choice a short while ago to take Rohit Sharma’s place as India’s white-ball captain. Ultimately, he led India in all 19 of the matches played between June 2022 and August 2023 (16 T20Is and 3 ODIs). The Baroda native was also considered to be India’s captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup after winning 12 of the previous 19 matches.
However, that did not transpire, as just a few months before the competition, Rohit Sharma made his comeback to the T20I scene. In the game, Hardik was the vice-captain. They both did a good job. The World Cup was won by India. Everything went smoothly.
Hardik should have been leading the way with all of his playing credentials and established record as captain as India got ready for life after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (both retired) in T20Is. He’s not, though. Suryakumar Yadav was the pick of the selectors and the new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, to lead the T20I team against Sri Lanka. Hardik wasn’t even thought of as the backup captain. Shubman Gill received it.
How The Popularity Of Hardik Pandya Declined
Pandya performed flawlessly; there was no issue. During the T20 World Cup, he was among India’s most reliable batsmen and bowlers. What then made the shift happen? What is the rationale for treating Hardik Pandya so harshly?
There is no simple answer, like with many things in Indian cricket. Experts claim that the main problem was Hardik’s level of fitness. After the 30-year-old all-rounder hurt his ankle while bowling in India’s fourth ODI World Cup group stage match against New Zealand, everything started to go wrong for him. He was unable to function for five months due to a catastrophic injury.
Pandya had already sustained significant injuries on previous occasions. He had serious back problems in the past, which kept him from bowling for about two years. The board and selectors were hesitant to choose him as captain with the T20 World Cup only six months away.
In the meantime, Rohit was keen to try again for an ICC trophy following India’s devastating loss to Australia in the ODI World Cup final. After Hardik’s fitness status remained unclear, it was decided to name Rohit as the captain instead of him. With the promise that he would collaborate with Rohit as the team’s leader, head coach Rahul Dravid was also convinced to continue until the T20 World Cup this year.
Hardik Selected As Rohit’s Deputy In The T20 World Cup
Following all of this, Hardik performed horribly both as a player and a leader in the Indian Premier League. Many began to doubt his talents as a result.
Still, after Rohit, Hardik was the second-best choice. He was selected as Rohit’s deputy in the T20 World Cup squad for just this reason. Dravid and Rohit were behind him. However, now that they are both out of the T20I picture, new coach Gambhir desired stability. Although he did not explicitly support Suryakumar Yadav to be the new T20I captain, he made it plain that he would not want to collaborate with a skipper who needed to control his workload.
Indian gamers have a preference The fact that Surya Pandaya requested a leave of absence from the Sri Lanka ODIs owing to personal matters further contributed and validated Gambhir’s queries.
While all of this was happening, the players provided input to the BCCI. According to The Indian Express, they felt more at ease under Surya’s leadership and liked him over Hardik. “It is said that the feedback received by the board was that players trusted Surya more than Pandya and were more comfortable working under him,” according to the newspaper.
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