R Sridhar on the India T20I captaincy race: “The fact that Suryakumar Yadav will be on the pitch for every match titled the scales in his favour.”

The BCCI’s choice to name Suryakumar Yadav as the Twenty20 International captain, in lieu of Rohit Sharma, who announced his retirement from the format following his victory in the T20 World Cup in June, was explained by India’s fielding coach R Sridhar.

With Suryakumar being handed the skipper last month, the fierce competition for the Indian T20I team has come to an end. India crushed Sri Lanka in the three-match Twenty20 International series at Pallekele, all under his captaincy. The cricket community praised the flashy batsman for his promotion, but some were shocked that Hardik Pandya, who served as Rohit’s backup during the T20 World Cup, did not receive the same recognition.

Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector for the BCCI, stated that one of the main reasons Suryakumar was appointed over Hardik—whose history of injuries is well-known—was workload management. In a similar vein, Sridhar has now stated that Suryakumar is the safest choice because his availability is not an issue.

“The very fact that Surya is someone who will be on the park for every match India is playing and not being bothered about workload monitoring is something which has tilted the scales in his favour, in terms of captaincy,” Sridhar told the Hindustan Times.

Suryakumar captained India in seven T20Is in an interim capacity prior to assuming a full-time role, and the Men in Blue won five of those matches. According to Sridhar, the BCCI was happy with his performance during that particular era.

“Some of the matches he has captained India when Rohit and Hardik were not available, has given confidence to the BCCI that he can do an excellent job,” Sridhar said.

Without a doubt, Hardik will return: R Sridhar

The Baroda all-rounder’s contributions to India’s victorious T20 World Cup 2024 campaign were lauded by Sridhar. Hardik took 11 wickets in addition to scoring 144 runs at a strike rate of over 150.

“I have no doubt that Hardik will return. He bowled two important overs between 16 and 20 to win you a World Cup. From an Indian point of view, the last over was obviously fantastic. If he has any niggles, he will return in the same manner as before, according to Sridhar.

Under Suryakumar’s leadership, Hardik participated in the T20I series against Sri Lanka last month, but he chose not to play in the current ODI series for personal reasons.