A new era is going to unfold in Indian cricket as Gautam Gambhir has took over the reigns of the head coach of Team India from Rahul Dravid. India have recently won the title of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and broken a drought of not winning ICC titles for the last eleven years. Immediately after the win, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have announced their retirement from T20s which means, the T20 team will have to prepare for the World Cup in 2026 under a new captain. Amidst this a young team under the captaincy of Shubman Gill toured Zimbabwe for a five-match series and won it 4-1. A lot of selection decision hang in balance ahead of the next meeting for the India's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.  Gautam Gambhir Meets Selectors, Discusses India’s Squad for White Ball Tour of Sri Lanka; Rohit Sharma May Be Available for ODIs: Report.

According to several reports, including one from Dainik Jagran's Abhishek Tripathi, the selection meeting for India's ODI and T20 squad for the Sri Lanka, which was set to take place on July 17, has been postponed and likely to take place on July 18.  Dainik Jagran reported that the selection meeting was postponed due to the dilemma over the T20I captaincy of India. Notably, there is a toss-up between Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav to become the new T20I captain of India.  Suryakumar Yadav Emerges As Strong Contender for Becoming India’s New T20I Captain Following Rohit Sharma’s Retirement, Set To Pip Hardik Pandya.

Reports from multiple media houses emerged that Suryakumar Yadav was set to edge Hardik Pandya and become the new T20I captain of the team. The initial reason considered was him enjoying a past relationship with the new head coach Gautam Gambhir during his time in Kolkata Knight Riders. But Hardik Pandya, who was the vice-captain of the Indian team in T20 World Cup 2024 and also captained the T20I team for a year between 2022 and 2023 looks to be still in the race. A section of the BCCI is reportedly in favour of going forward with Suryakumar as Hardik Pandya's fitness has been an issue over the years. They want to go with someone who is available for a longer period of time. Although nothing has been confirmed yet and to buy some more time for a collective decision, the selection meeting has been postponed. India are all set to travel to Sri Lanka on July 22.

 

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2024 04:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).