Why Surya Kumar Yadav Over Hardik Pandya As T20 Captain? Ajit Agarkar And Gautam Gambhir Tell Reason

Days after India's announcement of the T20 squad for the upcoming Sri Lanka series, Team India's new head coach and senior men's team chief selector and former cricketer Ajit Agarkar addressed the media to clear air on several topics including the selection of Surya Kumar Yadav as T20 Captain over Hardik Pandya. After Rohit Sharma's retirement announcement from the shortest format, it was expected that Hardik Pandya will be his successor, but surprising everyone, Gautam Gambhir picked hard hitter Surya Kumar Yadav for the job. Today, when media officials asked Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar the reason behind the big decision, Agarkar said Pandya's demotion was done following his fitness concerns.

"Why Surya was made captain? Because he is one of the deserving candidates. The one we know has been around the dressing room over the last one year, you get feedback from the dressing room a lot. He has got a good cricketing brain and he is still one of the best T20 batters in the world," Ajit Agarkar said during the press conference.

"You (would) want a captain that's going to be more likely to play all the games. We think he's a deserving candidate and hopefully, we'll see over time how he develops into the role," he added.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar underlined that Hardik Pandya is a key player and the team looks forward to his all-rounder services.

"But in regards to Hardik (Pandya), he's still a very important player for us and that's what we want him to be that player that he can be because those sorts of skill sets are very difficult to find what he has," Agarkar said.