Ace all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been removed as the vice-captain of the Indian team ahead of the tour to Sri Lanka. Pandya was the Indian vice-captain for the recent T20 World C up which the Men in Blue won. Before that, he took up the responsibility whenever he played alongside the captain of the side, Rohit Sharma.
Notably, in the shortest format, Hardik Pandya was slated to be the Indian captain and took that role quite frequently whenever he was available to play. But ahead of the squad announcement for the Sri Lanka tour, reports surfaced revealing that BCCI is moving away from Pandya in a leadership role.
Hardik Pandya removed as vice-captain of Indian team
The decision was taken because of Pandya’s injury history and availability for the majority of matches. Hence middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has been named the T20I captain while opening batter Shubhman Gill is the vice-captain for both white-ball squads.
India’s squad for tour to Sri Lanka
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, Mohd. Siraj.
ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.