Indian cricket is undergoing a major transition. The recent T20 World Cup victory saw the retirements of stalwarts Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. With these outgoing players, head coach Rahul Dravid also bid adieu to the Indian team.

Now, Gautam Gambhir is the new head coach. His first assignment is the white-ball series against Sri Lanka. As some players were rested after the World Cup win, the squads for the matches were announced. The selection of some of the players raised eyebrows and sparked debates.

One such debate was the promotion of Suryakumar Yadav as the T20I captain and ignoring star-allrounder Hardik Pandya for the role. Many former players and pundits backed Pandya as the ideal choice as he was the vice-captain in the World Cup.

Adding more to this saga, journalist Abhishek Tripathi opined on the matter in an interview with News 24 Sports. “The new coach Gambhir has a visible hand in naming the squad. Everyone can clearly notice his choices. While Rahul Dravid had to compromise at times, Gambhir doesn’t. He goes all out for the players of his choice,” he said.

“Appointing a new captain is not decided by a single individual. It is decided with a thorough discussion of the BCCI and the selectors. According to my sources, Gambhir is the main man behind Suryakumar’s promotion and the reasons will be revealed as time goes by.”

The interviewer asked, “There are speculations that Rohit Sharma played a role in Hardik not getting T20I captaincy.”

“When someone is promoted, the other is demoted. Rumors are everywhere, Rohit is retired and now has nothing to do with T20Is. Suryakumar’s rise has led to Hardik’s demotion. Rohit is still an integral part of Test cricket and one-day internationals,” Tripathi answered

“Rohit played a role in getting Gautam Gambhir on board as Team India’s head coach. He definitely had a say in Hardik Pandya’s matter as well. He is behind Hardik not getting T20I captaincy,” he added.

“Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar officially made the decision to demote Hardik, but Rohit was also involved in the process from behind the scenes. Officially, Rohit is not a part of T20Is, but he can still make a few calls,” he concluded.