Suryakumar Yadav's promotion to the leadership role foretaking Hardik Pandya were seen during Rahul Dravid's tenure as Team India's head coach.
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Though Gautam Gambhir has given the final push, the idea of promoting Suryakumar Yadav to the leadership role was first brought out during Rahul Dravid’s tenure. One of the main reason for which Suryakumar went ahead of Hardik Pandya in the race of T20I captaincy was that the team management felt the need to appoint a captain who is likely to stay free of injuries for a long period of time, along with being available for all the matches.
The foundation of putting Surya as the captaincy was first put down after the ODI World Cup in 2023. With the coaches and selectors not being sure about Hardik Pandya’s return, as he suffered an ankle injury during the early phase of the World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav was given the role to lead the T20I side for the home series against Australia. With Pandya being injured along with seniors being put to rest to recover from the heartbreaking defeat to Australia in the final. Surya did a fine job leading India to a victory in the series by 4-1.
Former Indian bowling coach Paras Mhambrey told about the thought process behind coach Dravid, team management and the selectors in giving Surya the leader role.
“First and foremost, when you pick a captain, you expect the captain to play all the games in that format. We, the coaches and selectors, have always felt that here’s a guy who’s gonna have a long future in the T20 format. He has mastered that skill. One of the best in this format. He and Klaasen are maybe one or two in T20Is now based on their current form. Just the pure impact he has on winning games for India is phenomenal,” said Mhanbrey.
Surya has captained Mumbai in domestic cricket, though, before the Australia and South Africa series, he had no experience in leading the team at higher levels. Unlike Rishabh pant or Hardik Pandya who were the other candidates, Surya did not even have the opportunity to lead an IPL team. Though, both the old and the new team management felt that Surya was best to replace Rohit Sharma after his retirement
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