Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed as the new captain for India’s T20 team, according to an announcement by the country’s cricket board on Thursday. This change follows Rohit Sharma’s decision to step down from the T20 captaincy after India’s World Cup victory last month.
The 33-year-old Suryakumar will lead a 15-member T20 squad on a tour of Sri Lanka, starting with three T20 internationals in Pallekele on July 27. Shubman Gill, who recently captained a second-string Indian side to a 4-1 T20 series victory in Zimbabwe, has been named vice-captain for both T20 and ODI formats.
Rohit Sharma will continue to captain the ODI team, which will face Sri Lanka in three ODIs on August 2, 4, and 7 at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium. Virat Kohli will also return for the ODI matches, while pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will miss the tour following a demanding season.
Initially, Hardik Pandya, who served as Rohit’s deputy during the T20 World Cup, was a strong contender for the T20 captaincy. However, frequent injuries have sidelined him. Pandya, who suffered an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup last year and only recently returned for the Indian Premier League, remains in the T20 squad but is absent from the ODI series. Shreyas Iyer, who previously lost his contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), will make his return for the ODIs.
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Suryakumar, an aggressive middle-order batsman and a key player for India in the T20 format, was the top choice for the new coach Gautam Gambhir. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja had all announced their retirements from the T20 format following India’s win over South Africa in the World Cup final last month in Barbados. This match also marked Rahul Dravid’s final appearance as head coach, with Gambhir taking over to build on the team’s World Cup success.
Suryakumar, who previously captained Mumbai in domestic cricket, led India to a 4-1 T20 series win over Australia last year and followed it up with a 1-1 series result in South Africa.
T20I Squad:
- Suryakumar Yadav (captain)
- Shubman Gill (vice-captain)
- 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 (captain)
- Shubman Gill (vice-captain)
- 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
