India

Suryakumar.
| Photo Credit: SHASHANK PARADE

Almost a week since Suryakumar Yadav was preferred over Hardik Pandya as India men’s T20 captain, chairman of selection committee Ajit Agarkar has spelt out the reasons.

Referring to Suryakumar as “one of the best T20 batters in the world”, Agarkar stated that Hardik’s fitness concerns, his availability issues and dressing room feedback resulted in Suryakumar being looked at Rohit Sharma’s successor in the shortest format.

“Surya is one of the deserving candidates. He has been around the group over the last year, we get feedback from the dressing room a lot. Good cricket brain, and one of the best T20 batters in the world,” Agarkar said, with new head coach Gautam Gambhir by his side.

“One of the main issues was that you want a captain who is likely to play all the games. We think he is a deserving candidate and hopefully we will see over time how he develops into the role.”

Besides his frequent fitness issues, Hardik has predominantly been playing only T20Is for India in the recent past, with multiple breaks in between.

“You get feedback from the dressing room as well, and the biggest thing is that the captain should be on the park is a prerequisite. Hopefully Surya does it,” Agarkar said.

The former pacer — who along with Gambhir — was a part of India’s World T20-winning squad in 2007, backed Hardik, the all-rounder to the hilt.

“As for Hardik, he is still an important player for us. We want him to be the player he can be, because those sort of skill sets are difficult to find,” Agarkar said.

“Fitness has been a challenge for him over the last few years. Then it becomes a bit difficult for the coach as well as the selectors. We have now got a bit more time till the next T20 World Cup (in 2026) where we can look at a few things. He is an important player and his performances are more important for us.”