IND vs SL: India has started their first international tour of the new head coach Gambhir’s era. The World Cup-winning team India has been in the buzz since they won the World Cup under coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma. After both the veterans stepped down from their positions, Surya was chosen as the skipper, and Gautam Gambhir, the IPL-winning mentor for the Kolkata Knight Riders, was chosen by the BCCI as India’s head coach till 2027.
Gambhir made remarkable yet controversial changes to the Indian team, especially the T20I side. His most contentious decision remained the appointment of Suryakumar Yadav, India’s leading T20I batter, as the new skipper, replacing Rohit Sharma. This took many by surprise, as the MI batter was chosen over the long-considered captaincy option, Hardik Pandya.
Pandya was first seen with the Gujarat Titans as a skipper, as he won the title with them, while next, he had seen success with the Men in Blue as their occasional skipper on many occasions. Pandya has captained over 15 games for the India team in the shortest format, while Surya had stepped in for 6 games as well.
Foreseeing Pandya’s caliber, he was highly anticipated for the captaincy role; however, due to his lack of fitness, Suryakumar was chosen over him as the skipper. Surya was seen playing for the Men in Blue as their interim skipper for the Sri Lanka T20I tour in the First T20I.
Surya came out to bat for India at No. 3 in the first T20I, with Gill and Jaiswal having given them a quick start. The newly appointed skipper had much over his shoulders, as he not only had to prove his worth as a captain or to keep his standards as India’s top T20I batter but also gain the praise of fans who were disappointed over Pandya not being given the captaincy for the Indian side.
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Surya stood fearless in front of the Lankan side, just going by his standards as he smashed shots to all corners of the park for his 26-ball, 58-run score. In his innings, he smashed 8 fours and 2 sixes. The MI batter never seemed to be nervous or underconfident for a second as he took forward a marvelous stride.
Just like the first T20I, if Surya continues to dominate with the bat and have his balance over the role of captaincy and one of the world’s best batters in the shortest format of the game, then no doubt it will be seen that Surya will lead the Men in Blue to their title defense in the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2026.
