Gautam Gambhir tells BCCI to retain Suryakumar Yadav as India T20I captain, but Ajit Agarkar…

The India National Cricket Team have been one of the strongest teams in the white-ball format, especially in the T20 format. Suryakumar Yadav’s side created history after winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, becoming the first team to win the trophy in back-to-back years, winning it at home, and also the team to win the trophy three times.

Suryakumar Yadav, as a captain of the Men in Blue have been impressive with his record and has a better win percentage record than other World Cup-winning captains Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. SKY has led the side well and has won 8 games out of 9 in the recently concluded tournament. Suryakumar has a win percentage of 80.76.

Suryakumar Yadav to be dropped from captaincy?

Head coach Gautam Gambhir is a big fan of Suryakumar’s captaincy in the shorter format of the game. However, considering his poor batting record raises serious doubts about his participation in the country's 2028 Olympics campaign in Los Angeles. In this context, India's tour of England and Ireland in June-July will be critical for the skipper.

According to a report in PTI, his batting will be under the eyes of the selectors, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, rather than his captaincy. The upcoming tour might determine his future for another two years until the next round of major events in 2028, which includes the Olympics and the T20 World Cup. SKY did not perform well with the bat in the T20 World Cup, except for the first game against the USA.

Gautam Gambhir favours SKY as captain for India

As per reports from PTI, Gautam Gambhir is expecting his extension of coaching tenure till the T20 World Cup 2028 in Australia, and also keep Suryakumar Yadav as the captain of the side in the shortest format of the game. Though the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is yet to agree with the head coach, given that Surya will turn 38 at the time of the Olympics.

"Obviously Surya is now leading the team. But he also has to ensure that as a batter, he maintains a level of consistency in his performances. Obviously, he will lead in the UK but after that, discussions going forward till 2028 could be purely performance-based," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Suryakumar Yadav's form a concern

Suryakumar Yadav scored 242 runs in the T20 World Cup 2026, with an average of 30, a strike rate of 136.72. This was a concern, as his rapid drop in the strike rate, and he was criticised for the same. SKY had a torrid 2025 as he could not score a single fifty, and his strike rate also dropped under 120.

India have a lot of talent waiting to get their chances, and has tremendous firepower in the top three, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is yet to make his debut. Suryakumar needs to find consistency and score at a good pace with the changing dynamics of T20 cricket; he will have a problem matching the pace of the game.

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