Players 'Trusted Yadav More Than Pandya': Report

• By Thetripurapost Sports Desk, Mumbai
• Jul 19, 2024
• 303

29 June 2024... On this golden date of Indian cricket, the Men in Blue won the T20 World Cup for the second time. 

But now everything has changed within 20 days. There is a wave of change in Team India's dressing room. Gautam Gambhir has become the head coach in place of Rahul Dravid. 

Suryakumar Yadav has been made the captain of the T20 team in place of retired Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya, who was the vice-captain in ODI and T20 World Cup, has been completely removed from the leadership role in both formats. 

The Indian team was announced on the night of July 18 for the Sri Lanka tour starting from July 27, in which many revolutionary changes were seen simultaneously, but it was not so easy for Gambhir to take these bold decisions.

This selection meeting of Team India lasted for several hours over two days. If reports are to be believed, differences of opinion as well as heated debate were also seen in the meeting. 

During the meeting itself, many players were called and long term planning was discussed with them. Surya being selected as the vice-captain before Hardik in captaincy and Gill being selected as the vice-captain before Rahul in ODIs is a very important step taken for the future of Indian cricket. 

The Indian Express report claims that this selection meeting was different from any other meeting, as it had heated debates and disagreements. Phone calls were being made to the players and the long term plans of the team management were being explained.

According to the Indian Express report, there was also a view in the team selection meeting that not making the current vice-captain of the T20 team, i.e. Hardik Pandya, the captain would be unfair to him. 

Especially when he has performed amazingly during the World Cup. An Indian Express report claims that the scales tilted in favor of Suryakumar Yadav due to the trust of the players. The report claims that the 'feedback' received by the BCCI was that the players 'trusted Yadav more than Pandya' and were comfortable working under him. 

It is being said that the selectors have liked Surya's man management. When Ishan Kishan was about to leave the Indian camp in the middle of the South Africa tour last year, Yadav tried to persuade him to stay there. 

This was another reason behind Yadav getting the approval for captaincy before Pandya.

Some people said that the decision to make Pandya his deputy was Rohit's, while the selection committee was not very keen on it. During the meeting, it was also argued that the selection committee under Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar does not have the opportunity to prepare the team for the next two years, so this is the right time to prepare a roadmap for the next T20 International cycle. 
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Pandya, the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup winning team, was already informed about their decision by Chief Selector Agarkar and Head Coach Gambhir. Fitness also betrayed Pandya. Out of the total 79 T20I matches played since January 1, 2022, Pandya could play only 46, while during this period Suryakumar Yadav was not a part of only those matches when he had sports hernia surgery