How Can SKY And Gill's Emergence Enforce Downfall Of Captain Hardik Pandya?

Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill [X]Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill [X]

It is time for Indian cricket fans to welcome a new age of Indian cricket after the T20 World Cup 2024 win. With Rohit Sharma retiring from T20Is and the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as the new head coach, the transition period to the next generation has begun. 

While India have been averted to the ideal of spilt captaincy so far, it seems that the management will have to subscribe to the idea at least for the next few months.

In major developments, after the end of an 11-year drought (of an ICC trophy), Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed as the T20I captain, while Rohit Sharma continues to lead India in the 50-over format. Shubman Gill, the projected future poster boy of Indian cricket, has been appointed as the vice-captain in both formats. 

This looks like a detour from what the scheme of things looked like ahead of the T20 World Cup regarding the leadership role. 

Is it the end of the road for Hardik Pandya, the Indian captain? Or is it a test run in the leadership role by the Indian management?


Suryakumar Yadav, the T20 expert

Suryakumar has proven himself as one of the bests in T20 cricket [X]Suryakumar has proven himself as one of the bests in T20 cricket [X]

Suryakumar Yadav probably had the moment of his life when he held onto the catch of David Miller in the last over of the T20 World Cup 2024 final. But before this, SKY made valuable contributions to the team’s cause during the tournament in pressured situations. Besides, it has been quite some time now since Surya has been a dominant force for India in this format. 

Surya’s exploits in the T20 format made India use him as a number-six batter in the ODI World Cup 2023 (after Hardik’s injury against Bangladesh) and then give him a go in the purest format of the game. 

However, his performance at the highest level in the longer formats was not that impressive, and without any dramatic happenings in the foreseeable future, his career will seemingly be limited to the shortest format of international cricket. 

This makes him an apt leader for India’s title defence in the T20 World Cup 2026, as he is expected to play most of the T20I matches from now on and will get enough as a captain of this new Indian team. 


Grooming Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma batting together [X]Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma batting together [X]

Barring his absence from the T20 World Cup, Shubman Gill is having quite the time. He had a stellar ODI season in 2023, where he was the highest run-scorer in the world. Gill also had a resurgence in his Test career during the England series, where he scored 452 runs in 9 innings at an average of 56.50 and sealed his spot at the number three spot in the Indian batting line-up. 

Well, the talented young Indian batter was rewarded with the captaincy of the national team during the recently concluded Zimbabwe series and has now been appointed as the deputy of Surya and Rohit in the T20Is and ODIs, respectively. 

Even though there have been discussions about his scoring rate in the shortest format, it seems like the Indian management has decided to back the young man and groom to be the future all-format captain of the team.


End of the road for Hardik, the captain?

Hardik Pandya in the T20 World Cup 2024 Final [X]Hardik Pandya in the T20 World Cup 2024 Final [X]

These two moves by the Indian management might be a red flag for Hardik Pandya. His dismal run as the leader of the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 seems to have induced a loss of faith in the management of him as the captain of India. Even his all-round show and the heroic last over in the T20 World Cup might not have put him on the right track. 

It seems that the new head coach is trying to look beyond Hardik and groom someone else who could lead India for a substantial amount of time.