“They should have backed him”: Mohammad Kaif on Hardik Pandya not captaining India in Sri Lanka series

The BCCI on Thursday announced India’s squad for the white-ball series against Sri Lanka which will include 3 T20Is and ODIs each and will begin from July 27. The series will also see the start of Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as the new head coach of the team. The most notable selection decision made for the tour was declaring Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I captain in place of Hardik Pandya who looked to have been the perfect replacement for Rohit Sharma as captain in the T20 format.

Hardik was the vice-captain of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup on June 29 in Barbados, and it was a no-brainer when it came to taking over the reins in the T20I format after Rohit’s exit. However, both Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar reckoned that Suryakumar should be named the new captain.

The decision, however, did not sit well with former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who reckoned that the Indian team management should have backed Hardik for the captaincy role given his experience of having led a T20 team in the past. He added that Hardik also led Gujarat Titans to back-to-back finals in the IPL and won one of them.

“Hardik has captained the Gujarat Titans for 2 years and in their first year itself, they made it to the final… Hardik has experience captaining the T20I side. He was also the vice-captain at the T20 World Cup. Now, a new coach has arrived, there will be new planning. Surya is also a good player, he has been playing for years. He is a no.1 T20 player, I hope he will shoulder the captain’s responsibility well. But, I feel they should have backed Hardik…” Kaif told IANS.

“Gambhir is the experienced captain and coach… He understands cricket very well. I think Hardik has not done anything wrong that he should not get the captaincy,” Kaif added.

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