NEW DELHI: Former India cricketer and batting coach Sanjay Bangar has expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as India's T20I captain for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka instead of Hardik Pandya. Bangar, who believes Pandya played a crucial role in India’s recent T20 successes, feels that the all-rounder has been unfairly overlooked.
India will play three T20Is and three ODIs against Sri Lanka starting July 27.
Following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shortest format, many expected Pandya, who was the vice-captain during India's recent T20 World Cup win, to step into the captaincy role. Bangar expressed surprise that Pandya was not given the captaincy.
"I am a bit surprised as far as Hardik not being the captain of the T20 team is concerned because even before the previous T20 World Cup it seemed like if Rohit hadn't become the captain and Hardik hadn't gotten injured at that time, Hardik only would have become the captain," Bangar said on Star Sports.
"The Indian team had started going in that direction. The selectors had also found that path. I find this sudden U-turn slightly troubling. We have certainly read that the chairman of the selection committee and the coach have spoken to Hardik Pandya," he added.
Pandya has demonstrated a strong leadership record, having led the Indian team to 10 victories in 16 T20Is. Yadav has captained Team India in seven T20Is, winning five of them.
"It's not that Suryakumar Yadav has played less domestic cricket before playing international cricket. So he has a lot of experience, I think he has led Mumbai in domestic cricket as well and knows how to extract the best from the players," Bangar said.
He continued, "So there is nothing wrong in Suryakumar being made the captain. I fully believe that he will do a good job, but I still feel a little injustice has been meted out to Hardik."
While acknowledging that selectors and coach Gautam Gambhir might have explained their reasons to Pandya, Bangar opined that the all-rounder would still feel hurt by the decision.
"As a player, you are always understanding what the selectors are trying to do, what the new coach is trying to do but deep within himself, I am pretty sure that Hardik will be deeply hurt that he is not being considered for T20 captaincy," Bangar stated.
