Suryakumar Yadav named India’s T20 captain; Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli return for Sri Lanka ODIs

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Suryakumar Yadav as India’s next T20 skipper, while Rohit Sharma will continue to lead the team in ODIs.

Suryakumar Yadav’s first assignment will be the three T20Is India will play against Sri Lanka in the island nation from July 27.

Suryakumar got the nod ahead of Hardik Pandya, who went out of favour after fitness concerns and his unimpressive way of handling the team and strategising.

The 33-year-old Suryakumar previously led India in a 4-1 series win over Australia in November last year and during a 1-1 draw against South Africa soon after. He has also captained Mumbai in India’s domestic circuit and has also led the Mumbai Indians once in the Indian Premier League.

Shubman Gill was named Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy for the T20I series. Interestingly, Hardik Pandya was the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup 2024 winning team and he doesn’t retain his position as deputy either.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma will continue to lead India in the ODIs. The duo were supposed to take a break from the ODIs but head coach Gautam Gambhir and national selector Ajit Agarkar convinced the duo to get back to competitive cricket considering India will only play six ODIs before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and their presence is crucial for the nation.

Gill will serve as Rohit’s deputy for the ODIs too. Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Harshit Rana and Riyan Parag were given maiden ODI call-ups while Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul were also included in the squad.

India will play three T20Is in Pallekele on July 27, 28 and 30 while ODIs will be played in Colombo on August 2, 4 and 7. The series will be Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as the head coach of the Indian team after taking over the reins from Rahul Dravid.

India’s T20I squad:

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ꮪhubman 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 and Mohammed Siraj.

India’s ODI squad:

Rohit Sharma (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed and Harshit Rana.