Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa feels that the all-rounder Hardik Pandya should not be disappointed for not getting the T20I captaincy.
After Rohit Sharma’s T20I retirement, there were high speculations about the appointment of India’s T20I captain. With Hardik Pandya one of the strong contenders for the role, BCCI named Suryakumar Yadav as New T20I captain.
Moreover, Hardik lost his vice-captain role to Shubman Gill On this occasion, BCCI selector’s chairman Ajit Agarkar said his recent injury was the reason behind the decision.
Uthappa supported BCCI’s decision and suggested that Hardik should understand it would only extend his career. “If I were in Hardik’s place, I would actually feel taken care of to a certain extent.”
“If I’m 34-35 years old and I’m someone who’s been injury-prone through my career and a certain responsibility has been taken away from me with the mindset of extending my career and giving me the best chance to offer my services to my country for as long as possible, keeping that in view, I would actually say OK this is the best thing for me,” said Utthapa.
He also feels that Hardik Pandya will be fine without T20I captaincy. “If you asked me between the two what I would pick as a human being, I would say, serving my country and winning as many World Cup championships, irrespective of whether I was a captain or whether I was just a player.”
“Knowing Hardik Pandya on a certain level, I would say he’d be someone saying it’s fine, their perspective is also right. They want a player of my quality and my caliber to be able to serve my country for as long as possible. And I would love to do that as well,” he said.
He also spoke about Sanju Samson’s snub from the ODI squad and suggested the leaders give some time for players to settle down.
Suryakumar’s first assignment as T20I captain will start with the Sri Lanka tour while Rohit Sharma will resume the ODI captaincy and head to Colombo to play three ODI matches scheduled to start on August 3.
With Sri Lanka cricket announcing the T20I squad, both sides are gearing up for the first T20I match starting on July 27 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
