Hardik Pandya skips Suryakumar Yadav's first address to team India as their captain

Star allrounder Hardik Pandya supposedly skipped India's new T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav's first address to the team during the huddle. It is believed that Hardik later joined the team during the practice session. Suryakumar Yadav addressed the team for the first time as the players practiced before the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele.

Suryakumar Yadav was recently appointed India's next T20I captain after the retirement of Rohit Sharma from the format. After India's successful campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit Sharma called time on his T20I career alongside other senior players Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

Hardik was Rohit Sharma's deputy when the latter was India's T20I captain in the T20 World Cup 2024. With Rohit's retirement, it was expected that Hardik Pandya was the frontrunner to take up the captaincy in the shortest format.

But things took a new turn as chief selector Ajit Agarkar and new head coach Gautam Gambhir cited Hardik's constant injury concerns and workload management to give Suryakumar Yadav the captaincy.

Watch: 'Captain' Suryakumar Yadav accidentally leaks 'Axar Patel' strategy ahead of Sri Lanka T20Is as he warns all-rounder

Hardik Pandya skips Suryakumar Yadav's first address to the team after becoming India's T20I captain

According to the reports, Suryakumar Yadav called everyone in the T20I squad for his first address as India's new T20I captain. But surprisingly, Hardik Pandya was not present in the huddle. The reason for his absence is still unknown.

Later, Hardik Pandya joined the team's practice session. The move to skip Suryakumar Yadav's first address has raised several questions in the team environment. However, Hardik Pandya was involved in a long conversation with Gautam Gambhir later. He also discussed his batting stance with the new India head coach.

आज श्रीलंका में भारतीय टीम का पहला अभ्यास सत्र था। वहां मौजूद सूत्र ने बताया कि जब नए कप्तान सूर्यकुमार यादव ने पहली बार हर्डल में टीम को संबोधित करने के लिए बुलाया तो उसमें हार्दिक पांड्या शामिल नहीं थे। अब वह किस कारण उस समय वहां नहीं थे ये मालूम नहीं। हालांकि वह बाद में अभ्यास…

— Abhishek Tripathi / अभिषेक त्रिपाठी (@abhishereporter) July 23, 2024

Hardik Pandya has been through several injury concerns in his international career so far, because of which he has missed a few important tournaments as well. India's team management is aware of Hardik's constant injury issues and want to manage his workload in order to keep him fresh for important tournaments.

Why was Suryakumar Yadav picked ahead of Hardik Pandya as T20I captain?

When asked about Hardik Pandya's omission from the leadership group, Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir were on the same page as they believed that a captain should be on the park rather than rested or injured. Hardik led India in 16 T20Is in which India won 10 matches. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav led India in seven T20Is, and India won five out of them.

India will play some important white-ball tournaments in the upcoming years and Hardik Pandya is going to play a crucial role in those tournaments. In the T20 World Cup 2024, Hardik Pandya played a key role in India's title win.

In eight matches he played, Hardik Pandya scored 144 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.57. He played crucial knocks in the Super 8 stage and in the semi-final against England. With the ball, Hardik was equally impressive as he picked up 11 wickets at an average of 17.36 and a strike rate of 7.64. He bowled match-winning spells in the group stage and in the final, where he also bowled the crucial last over and defended 16 runs.