Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa feels Hardik Pandya should not be disappointed after he missed out on becoming India's new T20I captain. Hardik, who was Rohit Sharma's deputy in the successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, was one of the frontrunners to take over the captaincy after the latter announced his retirement from the format. However, the selection committee made a bold decision by promoting Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I skipper over Hardik, as he also lost his vice-captaincy to Shubman Gill. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar asserted that Hardik's injury-prone nature in recent times was the reason behind their decision not to give him the big responsibility.
Uthappa asserted that the BCCI made a good decision and suggested that Hardik, who has recently dealt with several injuries, should understand that it would only help him extend his career.
"If I were in Hardik's place, I would actually feel taken care of to a certain extent. If I'm 34-35 years old and I'm someone who's been injury-prone through my career and a certain responsibility has been taken away from me with the mindset of extending my career and giving me the best chance to offer my services to my country for as long as possible, keeping that in view, I would actually say OK this is the best thing for me," he said on Sony Sports.
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Uthappa, who shares a good camaraderie with Hardik Pandya, feels that the star all-rounder would be fine with not getting the T20I captaincy.
{{/usCountry}}Uthappa, who shares a good camaraderie with Hardik Pandya, feels that the star all-rounder would be fine with not getting the T20I captaincy.
{{/usCountry}}"If you asked me between the two what I would pick as a human being, I would say, serving my country and winning as many World Cup championships, irrespective of whether I was a captain or whether I was just a player. Knowing Hardik Pandya on a certain level, I would say he'd be someone saying it's fine, their perspective is also right. They want a player of my quality and my caliber to be able to serve my country for as long as possible. And I would love to do that as well," he said.
Suryakumar Yadav's tenure as India's permanent T20I captain will start with the upcoming Sri Lanka series, where Hardik will play under him. The first T20I of the three-match series will begin on July 27, followed by matches on July 28 and 30. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma will resume the captaincy duties with ODIs as India will then travel to Colombo to play three One-day Internationals scheduled for August 2, 4 and 7.