New Delhi. During the press conference before leaving for the limited overs series in Sri Lanka, Indian men’s cricket team chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that Suryakumar Yadav was made the captain of the T20 international team after fitness criteria and long discussions.
Agarkar said, “You cannot take the decision to make someone a captain overnight. We discussed it a lot and also took feedback from the dressing room about what qualities we are looking for as a captain. The biggest thing for us was that our captain should be someone who is always ready to take the field. This was our first condition. With Suryakumar, you already know that fitness has never been that big an issue. This helped us a lot in taking the decision.” Agarkar said in a questioning tone, “If Hardik had suddenly got injured, we would have had no option for captaincy. With Rohit, things were easy and we had options. It has happened before when Hardik suddenly got injured and we were left with no option for captaincy. So we did not want such a situation.
He said, “You know what Pant can do in international cricket. Before the accident, he was the main player for us in every format. He has once won us a Test series on his own. That’s why you want him to play for the team. After T20, ODI cricket is going to be the second big step in his comeback. We hope that after T20, he will make a successful comeback in ODIs as well.”
He said, “If someone is making a comeback after years, then you also want that there is no pressure on them, especially the vice-captaincy. That’s why we have the option of an additional wicketkeeper in every format. KL Rahul is the second option for us in the big format. The ODI World Cup went well for him and now the Test season is about to come. We hope that both these players will play an important role in the success of the Indian team in the near future.”
