Three senior Indian cricketers – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from the T20I format after the Indian team won the T20 World Cup 2024 which was hosted by USA and West Indies.
With Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shortest format, the Indian T20I team needed a new skipper and Hardik Pandya appeared to be the obvious choice as he was the vice-captain of the team in the T20 World Cup 2024.
However, with Gautam Gambhir joining as the new head coach, a big decision was taken by him and the board and it was regarding the player who will lead the Indian T20I team.
During the press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, the chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir made it clear that they want a skipper who is likely to be available more often than not which was a reference to the fact that Hardik Pandya is more prone to fitness issues.
The board decided to go with Suryakumar Yadav, one of the finest batters of the shortest format and he will be leading the team in the 3-match T20I series against Sri Lanka which is going to start from 27 July.
The BCCI has uploaded a video on their official X account in which Suryakumar Yadav has talked on various issues including his new role, his learnings as a sportsperson, his relationship with the new head coach Gautam Gambhir, etc.
Talking about his new responsibility, SKY said, “I have always enjoyed being a leader on the field even though I was not the captain. I have always learnt a lot of things from different captains. It’s a good feeling and a great responsibility.”
Suryakumar Yadav has also played under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy during his stint at Kolkata Knight Riders and while talking about his relationship with Gautam Gambhir, he said, “This relationship is special because, in 2014, I played under him in KKR. It was special because from there only I got opportunities. The relationship is still strong. He (Gambhir) knows how I work, and what is my mindset when I come to practice sessions. I also know how he tries to work as a coach. It’s all about the lovely relationship we have and very excited to see how it goes forward.”
SKY also talked about his learnings from the sport, he said, “I think the most important thing that I have learned from this sport is how humble you are after achieving or even after not doing well. I have learned when you do something on the ground you have to leave it on the ground. This is not your life, this is just a part of your life. So you can’t be when you are doing well you stay on the top and when you are not doing well, you are underground. That’s one thing which you shouldn’t do ever as a sportsman, that’s one thing which I have learned and that’s what helps me create balance in my life. If you are a good person, everything happens good.”
Here is the video which was posted by the BCCI with the caption, “𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗸𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗿 𝗬𝗮𝗱𝗮𝘃 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝘀 #𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮‘𝘀 𝗧𝟮𝟬𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻!”
https://x.com/BCCI/status/1816677320905679179
Click to watch this video directly on X
All the best to the new skipper and let’s hope that we win the next T20 World Cup as well!
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