When Suryakumar Yadav was appointed as the Indian men’s T20 captain after Rohit Sharma stepped down, a lot of eyebrows were raised.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya was deemed to be the next captain but the senior selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar decided to appoint Surya as Rohit’s successor.
When asked about the decision, former selection committee member S Sharath labelled it as a ‘bold move’ citing Surya’s success as a T20I captain.
“The team was not short on leaders. You had Rohit, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja. Suryakumar is a great character and a good team man. We thought he would seamlessly take over from Rohit. And he did a terrific job, and didn’t lose a single T20 series. Hardik was also a leader. Sharath told the Indian Express in an exclusive interview. “The credit should go to Ajit for making the right call. He took that bold decision. When we pick a team, we have to name a captain,” he added further.
Under Surya’s captaincy, India didn’t lose any T20 bilateral series winning eight of them and drawing one with South Africa.
Surya also led India to the 2025 Asia Cup title and defended the T20 World Cup title in the 2026 edition in front of the home fans.
Sharath said that the team has multiple leaders and everyone’s contribution at the end mattered.
“But in our view, we had 4-5 leaders in the team. Ultimately in both the T20 World Cups, Hardik’s contribution was immense. Even Surya, the catch in the (2024) final, and the impact he had as a captain at a home World Cup, was outstanding,” said Sharath.
However, after the T20 World Cup, the selection committee took another bold call and despite winning the T20 WC, Surya was dropped and Shreyas Iyer took over the reins from him.