‘Why Did You Snub Hardik?’: Gautam Gambhir Chooses Suryakumar Over Pandya as His Leader in T20Is

India's squad for their tour against Sri Lanka has been announced and Gautam Gambhir in his debut series as Team India head coach has already made a big call of snubbing Hardik Pandya and handing the captaincy of India in T20Is to Suryakumar Yadav.  

Not only has Hardik Pandya been snubbed as captain of the squad but he is also not the vice captain as that role goes into the hands of Shubman Gill. This does come as a surprise as Hardik Pandya was touted as the next captain of India in T20Is after Rohit Sharma's retirement given he was the vice captain of the side in their triumphant T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. 

Why did Gautam Gambhir name Suryakumar Yadav as T20I Captain?

While no concrete reason has been given on why Suryakumar Yadav was chosen as captain over Hardik Pandya, reports suggest that Gambhir did not want to hand captaincy of Indian team to player who has to manage and is prone to injuries. 

Fans react to Hardik Pandya's Captaincy Snub

Fans were naturally surprised over Hardik Pandya's snub to replace Rohit5 Sharma and they took to social media to share their confusion over the move. 

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India's Squad for Tour Against Sri Lanka

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, Mohd. 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, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

India will begin its tour of Sri Lanka from 27th July and will play three T20Is and three ODIs.