Demotion of Hardik Pandya? Why Shubman Gill took over as vice captain for the Sri Lanka series instead of the T20 World Cup star

Shubman Gill has been named India’s vice-captain for the Sri Lanka series in lieu of Hardik Pandya. India’s T20I captain will be Suryakumar Yadav.

Following a strong showing at the ICC T20 World Cup, Hardik Pandya was the clear favorite to replace Rohit Sharma as captain of India. All-rounder Hardik, who stood in for Rohit on the biggest platform, led India to victory in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa with some incredible bowling. In the T20 World Cup final, India upset the unbeaten Proteas squad with a thrilling seven-run victory because to the white-ball maverick’s 16-run defense in the last over.

Hardik was anticipated to take over as captain after experienced Indian opener Rohit waved adieu to T20I cricket. In the run-up to the T20 World Cup, Hardik took over as captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI) team, replacing Rohit. After Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach, all-rounder Hardik was not given any thought for the prominent position. In the lead-up to India’s squad announcement for the Sri Lanka series, Hardik’s MI teammate and former world no. 1 batter, Suryakumar Yadav, emerged as a dark horse to succeed Rohit as the new T20I captain of the Indian side.

Hardik Pandya was replaced by Shubman Gill as India’s deputy captain.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named Suryakumar as the new T20I skipper on Thursday in addition to announcing India’s double teams. As the new captain of the Men in Blue, Suryakumar took over from Rohit, and Shubman Gill took Hardik’s place as vice captain. For the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka, Gill has been selected as India’s vice-captain.

During the Sri Lanka ODI series, Hardik will take a rest.

Gill was elevated to the position of deputy after leading India’s batting lineup to a 4-1 series victory over Zimbabwe. In the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, Gill led the VVS Laxman-coached second-string team. Since the start of 2023, the star batter has scored the second-most runs in the 50-over format. In addition to losing his vice-captaincy role to Gill, Hardik was not selected as the T20I captain for the Sri Lanka series. For personal reasons, Hardik will not play in the ODI portion of the Sri Lanka series. In the Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka, the former vice captain will only be used as an all-rounder.

The Indian think tank may have chosen Suryakumar to be the next T20I skipper due to Hardik’s fitness problems and issues with managing his workload. In 16 T20Is and three ODIs, Hardik has led India in captaincy. At the previous year’s ODI World Cup, the all-round player sustained an ankle injury. After a protracted injury layoff, Hardik was only able to return to competitive cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

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