Not long ago, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was made the captain of Mumbai Indians in place of Rohit Sharma during the Indian Premier League (IPL), after which the fans were criticizing him at every ground.
But Hardik made a brilliant comeback in the T20 World Cup held in the USA and West Indies, with some even hailing him as the hero of the World Cup.
Hardik played an important role throughout this tournament. With his bowling and ability to bat anywhere in the middle order, he provided the necessary balance to the team.
He played a vital role in the team’s victory by bowling important overs in the final match, especially the last over of the match and David Miller’s wicket in it.
After the World Cup, some players, including himself, rested for the tour of Zimbabwe.
India have now announced their ‘full strength’ squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, with Hardik Pandya overlooked as a captaincy option.
Surya Kumar’s captaincy
Surya Kumar Yadav has been made the captain of the T20 International team by India. This step of BCCI, the governing body of Indian cricket, can be considered a bit unusual.
Although Suriya Kumar’s ability to score big in T20 matches is useful, he is not selected for ODIs and Tests.
He has been given limited opportunities in the 50-over ODI format and Test cricket so far but has not been able to do much to cement his place.
If we look at the history of the Indian team, the same captain has been captaining all three formats. This became more evident when Virat Kohli quit the T20 captaincy and was then stripped of the ODI captaincy, later resigning from the Test cricket captaincy as well.
Hardik has not been made vice-captain in any white-ball format. In his place, Shubman Gill, who did not play the T20 World Cup, has been made the vice-captain.
In such a situation, it is clear that the BCCI believes that Shibman Gul can become the captain of all formats in the future.