Suryakumar Yadav vs Hardik Pandya leads to heated debate in BCCI meeting; selectors fight among themselves- Report

Suryakumar Yadav got the nod ahead of Hardik Pandya for the role of India's T20I captaincy. The decision was confirmed by the selectors when they announced India's squads for the Sri Lanka tour.

Hardik Pandya was India's vice-captain when Rohit Sharma led the team in the T20 World Cup 2024. Pandya was the frontrunner to lead the team after Rohit's retirement.

Even post the T20 World Cup 2022 debacle in Australia, Pandya led Team India in the T20Is and was even expected to lead the team in this year's T20 World Cup until Rohit Sharma came back.

However, it is believed that the selectors and head coach Gautam Gambhir were on the same page about Hardik Pandya's history of injury concerns and wanted to manage his workload. This prompted the selectors to look at Suryakumar Yadav who has led India in seven T20Is and won five out of them.

Also read: Gautam Gambhir vs Jay Shah vs Ajit Agarkar: Who decided to hand over India's T20I captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav?

The heated debate led Suryakumar Yadav to trump Hardik Pandya in India's T20I captaincy race

The decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as captain before Hardik Pandya wasn't straightforward for the selectors.

According to the reports, there was an opinion that not naming the vice-captain of the team as the upcoming captain would be unfair to him, especially when Pandya was India's star performer in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Some people in the room even argued that appointing Hardik Pandya as the vice-captain was the decision of Rohit Sharma even though the selection committee wasn't in favor of it.

There was an argument that it was the right time for the new selection committee to draw up a roadmap for the next T20I cycle since Ajit Agarkar and his team did not have the opportunity to prepare the team earlier.

A member of the panel even mentioned that the BCCI and the selection committee must acknowledge the fact that Hardik Pandya is an important member of Team India despite not giving him leadership roles.

Suryakumar Yadav's communication style is similar to Rohit Sharma

Suryakumar Yadav's style of communication is a bit similar to Rohit Sharma and his teammates are also open to him. Suryakumar has impressed the selectors with his man-management skills in the past year, which is why the selectors considered him as a potential captaincy option despite being aged 33.

In the T20I series played against South Africa later last year, Suryakumar was India's captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya.

The middle-order batter was impressive in handling his team and was believed to have clear discussions even with the players on the bench to be mentally ready in case any opportunity arrived.

Suryakumar's role in dealing with the Ishan Kishan saga was also important in making the selectors feel that he was the right man for the job. When Kishan decided to go home midway through the tour, Surya tried his best to convince the youngster. The moment caught the attention of many key members of the team.