Though this is not the first time that Surya was named as skipper of the India T20I side, this step marks an important phase in the transition of Indian cricket with the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the shortest format of the game and Gautam Gambhir succeeding Rahul Dravid as the Team India head coach.
After the ODI World Cup in 2023, Surya was named as the captain of the Indian team for the T20I series against Australia and also for the subsequent T20I series against of South Africa and he had led India to a 4-1 T20I series win over Australia and followed it up with a 1-1 result in South Africa.
Star Sports shared a clip from 2023 where Suryakumar Yadav revealed his captaincy mantra.
On being asked how is he enjoying his captaincy and what’s his mantra for success, Surya says, “I am really enjoying this new role, enjoying spending time with everybody and we all have played together a lot either in franchise cricket or in state cricket, so it’s not that difficult to understand their strengths and weaknesses. And off the field we also spend so much time so the rapport we have on the field become very good.”
Surya adds, “It’s important for me to keep things simple, I am a process oriented man, I like to keep things simple and that’s what I try and tell everybody that try and keep things really simple, don’t try and be a different version of yourself.”
The 33-year-old Suryakumar will captain a 15-man T20I team on a three-match tour of Sri Lanka beginning on July 27 in Pallekele.
Shubman Gill, who recently guided a second-string Indian team to a 4-1 T20I series triumph in Zimbabwe, was named vice-captain for T20I and ODI matches.
After the T20I series, India will take on Sri Lanka in three matches on August 2, 4 and 7 at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium under the captaincy of Rohit.
While pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the tour after a gruelling season, Virat Kohli returns for the 50-over matches.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was Rohit’s deputy in the T20 World Cup, had started as a frontrunner for the job but lost out
Due to his frequent injury breakdowns, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was Rohit’s deputy in the T20 World Cup, lost out even though he had started as a frontrunner for the job.
Pandya, 30, suffered an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup at home last year and was out of action until the start of this season’s Indian Premier League where he replaced Rohit as Mumbai Indians captain.
Pandya remains part of the T20 squad but is out of the ODI series.
Surya has also captained Mumbai in domestic cricket.
T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Shubman Gill (vice-Capt.), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shubman Gill (vice-Capt.), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana