'Suryakumar Yadav is good but...' - Mohammad Kaif slams Gautam Gambhir for Hardik Pandya's removal from leadership group

Former batsman Mohammad Kaif has thrown his support behind Hardik Pandya after the allrounder was snubbed for Team India's T20I captaincy.

With Rohit Sharma retiring from T20Is last month following the victory in the T20 World Cup, Hardik Pandya was expected to take charge of the team. The star allrounder was the vice-captain of the team during the T20 World Cup and his impressive all-round displays only strengthened his case to be the new India T20I captain.

He performed with both bat and ball throughout the competition as India clinched the T20 World Cup after a gap of 17 years. With the bat, he scored 144 runs at a strike rate of over 150 and an average of 48. With the ball, he picked up 11 wickets including the crucial wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in the World Cup final.

However, the selectors and the team management decided against handing him the permanent captaincy and handed the responsibility to Suryakumar Yadav. As per media reports, one of the main reasons behind not appointing Hardik Pandya as the captain was his poor track record with injuries.

Mohammad Kaif on Hardik Pandya not getting captaincy:

The BCCI's decision to not give Hardik Pandya the T20I captaincy has surprised many including Mohammad Kaif. The former India batsman has said that while Suryakumar Yadav is a good choice for captaincy, the selectors and the team management should have backed Hardik Pandya because of his prior experience in leading T20 sides.

"Hardik has captained the Gujarat Titans for 2 years and in their first year itself, they made it to the final... Hardik has experience captaining the T20I side. He was also the vice-captain at the T20 World Cup. Now, a new coach has arrived, there will be new planning.

"Surya is also a good player, he has been playing for years. He is a no.1 T20 player, I hope he will shoulder the captain's responsibility well. But, I feel they should have backed Hardik..." Kaif exclusively told IANS.

"Gambhir is the experienced captain and coach... He understands cricket very well. I think 'Hardik ne aisa koi galat kaam nhi kia ki unko captaincy na mile' (Hardik has not done anything wrong that he should not get the captaincy)," he added.

Pandya does have ample experience in leading the team. He has led Team India in both the white-ball formats in the past and has captained IPL teams as well. In 2022, he led the Gujarat Titans to the IPL trophy before taking them to the final in 2023. In this year's IPL, he was leading Mumbai Indians although he could not do well as a captain. He has also led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is so far.

"He has experience, has captained in the IPL and leading a new team (Gujarat Titans) to trophy, with fresh and young faces, is a huge thing. He has made the Titans win by working from Ground Zero in the IPL...I think he was entitled to the captaincy. So let's just wait and see," he said.