Ajit Agarkar says Hardik Pandya is ‘unfit!’ for the captaincy role of the Indian National Cricket Team

New Delhi: Rumours around captaincy in the Indian cricketing circles have been reduced to a game of tug-of-war. In this rat race of favouritism, Indian cricket got a new T20I captain in the form of Suryakumar Yadav dethroning the highly anticipated candidate Hardik Pandya. Many plausible clauses were drawn with some pointing to a possible rift and factionalism within the BCCI.

However, the officials, Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir remained on the same page as they appeared for the press briefing on Monday. According to their statements, Suryakumar Yadav was seen as the more ‘deserving candidate’ among all the possible names that were there.

The puzzling thing over here is that BCCI did not prefer a candidate who has a report card of 16 T20Is vs someone who has just led 4-5 T20Is. Is merit the case for this selection ‘shock’ that has gripped the Indian T20Is? Followers of Indian cricket smell a sense of ‘favouritism’ and soft corners for Surya in the dressing room while Gautam is the coach. Suryakumar Yadav has played under Gautam previously in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp and was made second-in-command on many occasions.

“Surya over Hardik” Agarkar clarifies BCCI’s stance

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has however come out strongly in the press conference to dismiss all these half-baked stories around Pandya’s weak candidature for the captaincy position. Agarkar made it clear in the press conference that BCCI was looking for a more ‘permanent’ captain who is not injury-prone.

Press Conference in the morning:

Hardik has a history of injury-scarce in the past with the all-rounder missing out on important matches. Naturally, BCCI wanted to entrust this ambitious project to someone who could be there with the team at all times and is not susceptible to injuries. Moreover, with a lot of things going on in Hardik’s personal life, it is best to give the armband to a more stable cricketer Suryakumar Yadav.

India vs Sri Lanka: T20I squad