T20 WC Winning Indian Player Endorses Suryakumar Yadav As Brilliant Leader Amid Hardik Pandya Snub

India tour of Sri Lanka: Gautam Gambhir is all set to start his stint as the Team India Head Coach with an away tour to Sri Lanka. The tour that starts on July 27, 204 will feature six white ball games, 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is to be specific. Gambhir has taken over from Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach of Team India and he has been bestowed with the responsibility to see through Team India's transitional phase and lead them in 5 ICC trophies spanning over next few years.

Axar Patel Endorses Suryakumar Yadav The Captain

After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India's T20I squad for the Sri Lanka tour, there was an huge uproar about Hardik Pandya being axed as the T20I captain. Rohit Sharma announced his T20I retirement soon after Team India won the T20 World Cup on June 29, 2024 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. Post Sharma's retirement, it was almost given that Hardik was the next in line to be India's T20I skipper, but what prompted the Indian team management to think otherwise remains a mystery.

Amid all the flak, agreements and disagreement, Team India and Delhi Capitals all-rounder Axar Patel has now come out and has supported SKY's case as India's next T20I skipper. Patel was a pivotal member of India's T20 World Cup winning team and featured in all the eight games that Team India played in the tournament.

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'I have spent a lot of time with Suryakumar. Surya bhai is a happy-go-lucky guy. He keeps the atmosphere lively, loves doing mimicry and such fun stuff. I know he will keep the atmosphere cool. I recently played a five-game T20I series when he was the captain. I know he is a bowler's captain. He gives the bowlers the fields they ask for. And it was like that with me, too. I don't think there will be a lot of change', said Axar in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

Team India's ODI and T20I Squad

T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Mohammed Siraj.

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ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana