Former India player Mohammad Kaif said that Suryakumar Yadav being appointed as the new T20I captain is unfair to all-rounder Hardik Pandya as he was earlier chosen to lead the team as well. However, newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir has already created a stir ahead of his maiden series in charge of the Indian Team by making this controversial decision.

However, Hardik was picked as a natural successor to Rohit Sharma following the latter’s retirement from the T20 format following the 2024 T20 World Cup. He also has significant captaincy experience, leading in the IPL for the last three seasons and also leading the national team during Rohit Sharma’s absence after the 2022 T20 World Cup as well. However, Hardik Pandya’s workload and series of injuries worked
against his favour, as Suryakumar Yadav surpassed him for the role of T20I skipper with young Shubman Gill being appointed the vice-captaincy role in the white-ball setup.

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“I think that Hardik Pandya should have remained the captain. He led the Gujarat Titans for two years, made it to the finals on both occasions, and won a title. Hardik was already leading the T20I team, he was the vice-captain in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Now there’s a new coach, so there will be some kind of planning, I don’t know,” Kaif said in an interaction with IANS. “Surya is also doing quite well, he is not doing a bad job as such. He has also been playing for quite a while now and doing well for the team. I expect him to lead the team well, but I thought Hardik will be the captain. Gambhir has been the coach of some great teams and he has knowledge of the game as well, so he will be thinking in a certain way. But, I don’t think that Hardik Pandya has done anything wrong to be not considered as captain.”

However, Hardik Pandya will play the T20I series as a player, but will not play the ODI series due to personal reasons. Kaif opined on how Hardik Pandya led the Gujarat Titans (GT) to the title in their first-ever season in 2022 as well.

“He has experience, has captained in the IPL; and leading a new team (Gujarat Titans) to trophy, with fresh and young faces, is a huge thing. He has made the Titans win by working from zero in the IPL…I think he was entitled to the captaincy,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.