Indian Squad for SL: Gambhir era begins with ‘Surya Uday’ in T20s; Rohit, Kohli agree for ODIs

MUMBAI: The firebrand Gautam Gambhir announced his arrival as India’s head coach by successfully ensuring the ascension of Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20 captain in place of Hardik Pandya, who seemed primed for the leadership role after Rohit Sharma’s international retirement from the format.

India’s six-match white-ball series against Sri Lanka isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill bilateral engagement for Gambhir, whose mind seems to have aligned with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar on the issue of captaincy.

Both men decided unanimously to make Suryakumar the skipper keeping in mind the next T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026.

The series against Sri Lanka is an important precursor to that build-up.

The first T20 International will be held on July 27, followed by games on July 28 and 30. All the ties will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

The ODIs will be held on August 2, 4 and 7 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

It was under captain Gambhir, that Indian cricket fans took note of Suryakumar, popular as ‘SKY’, an indulgent acronym coined by the then Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, who would regularly praise the youngster for performing his finisher’s role to perfection.

It is understood that Pandya, the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup-winning squad, who bowled the historic last over in the final against South Africa, was intimated about the decision on Tuesday by both Agarkar and Gambhir about the hard call.

Pandya was also the vice-captain in the 50-over World Cup last year before his injury. With Shubman Gill being appointed deputy in both formats, it is now clear that the selection committee and Gambhir, are keen to look beyond Pandya as a leadership option.

What worked against Pandya was his frequent injury breakdowns. He played only 46 out of the 79 T20I games from Jan 1, 2022. In this period, Suryakumar missed only a few games and that too due to sports hernia surgery.

He led India to a 4-1 win over Australia in a T20I series last November and followed it up with a 1-1 draw in South Africa.

Pandya is nonetheless there in the T20 squad and has opted out of ODIs due to personal reasons.

Rohit, Virat decide to cut short break With only six ODIs left, three against Sri Lanka being the last batch of 2024, before next year’s Champions Trophy, it was imperative for both skipper Rohit and main batter Kohli to play this series so that the new coach can tactically think about the combinations.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Indian cricket team’s ‘Kohinoor’, has been preserved while Ravindra Jadeja has been rested keeping the 10 Tests — five home and five away — in mind.

End of Iyer’s exile Shreyas Iyer, the IPL-winning skipper of KKR team of which Gambhir was the mentor, also made a deserving national comeback after a rap on the knuckles from the selection committee for repeatedly avoiding domestic cricket last season. The batter had attributed it to his dodgy lower back.

Iyer wasn’t technically dropped from ODIs as he had scored a fifty in the last ODI that India played but now that he is back in the mix, he will get his central contract back automatically.

But the same can’t be said about Ishan Kishan, who is believed to be nowhere on the selection radar.

If sources are to be believed, he will only be back in reckoning after a full season of domestic cricket and playing IPL to IPL is harming his cause. Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Sanju Samson are the first three designated keepers in two white-ball formats.

Riyan and Harshit called in for ODIs The BCCI media statement stated, that the Board “will continue to monitor player availability and participation in the upcoming domestic cricket season, 2024-25.” Rookie pacer Harshit Rana, who had 19 wickets for KKR in this year’s IPL and was selected for the first two Zimbabwe T20Is, has been included in the ODI squad as it is believed that the selectors think it is the best time to broaden their pool of pacers and check how they fare at elite level.

Abhishek Sharma, who scored a 46-ball-hundred missed out as there is no place for him at No. 3 where the skipper himself will bat. Similarly, Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad also didn’t find a place.

The Squads: T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), 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, Mohd. Siraj. PTI KHS ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.