Former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has expressed his displeasure with the appointment of Suryakumar Yadav as T20I captain for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Srikkanth was candid in his assessment of the strategy being implemented by Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selectors, and head coach Gautam Gambhir who was marshaling the selection process.
New Role for Suryakumar Yadav
The selection of the Indian squad for the Sri Lanka series also saw Gambhir taking over as head coach, starting a fresh era. Suryakumar Yadav — who goes by the nickname SKY– has been handed over the captaincy of T20I, a decision that caused much debate in the cricket world.
Srikkanth’s Comment
Srikkanth, who was the chief selector in his time, did not mince words. He questioned the wisdom behind making Yadav captain, feeling that this was a knee-jerk reaction. Srikkanth stressed the need for a man who has enough captaincy experience in international cricket to cope with the multitudinous demands posed by the job.
Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar have offered a broader context through which their questions can be viewed — the sheer weight of Yadav’s T20 performances as well as his potential to provide ‘something different’ gave him an edge in this one-trick pony teamopotamus, according to them. Yadav, a left-handed opener who has stood out as an attacking batsman and also with his consistency in the T20 format. His elevation is seen as a strategic decision to revive the team and build for future challenges, including next year’s T20 World Cup .
The Hardik Pandya Factor
The issue of Yadav’s captaincy also puts the spotlight on all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Most of them believed that Pandya would be the obvious next pure choice to Rohit Sharma for the T20I captaincy as well. Critics have questioned the decision not to hand him captaincy duties yet, with some arguing that his performance in the IPL has shown he is more than ready for international cricket leadership.
The T20I series is set to be played from July 27-30 at Pallekele, while the ODI series will start in Colombo on August 2. Yadav — who feels it is a “big responsibility” — will be under the scanner during this series with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning for ODI matches.
Conclusion
The announcement of Suryakumar Yadav as the T20I skipper for India is bound to create a mess on social media, everyone would have mixed opinions but this might not be such good news. While Kris Srikkanth’s dissent represents the doubt-band within cricketing circles, the selection committee is backing its decision to see how Yunus turns up in office in his first tour. In the meantime, as Team India gets ready for their tour of Sri Lanka, Suryakumar Yadav is likely to be under scrutiny too, and should he deliver on what has been invested in him by those at the helm targeting divisions so that playing captaincy games could seem like school league works well with T20.
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