4 min readUpdated: Jun 3, 2026 10:53 PM IST
Just three months after Suryakumar Yadav captained India to the T20 World Cup title in Ahmedabad, the 35-year-old has not only been removed as captain but is also unlikely to find a place in the squad when the selectors meet next. Though the decision may raise eyebrows, it goes with this selection committee’s trend of not letting things drift or shying away from making tough calls.
Of late, Suryakumar has been in the middle of a slump. In the IPL, he managed just 10 sixes in 13 innings and was overshadowed by the young guns in terms of boundaries and strike rates. Even before the T20 World Cup at home earlier this year, Suryakumar was struggling to find big scores before he hit three fifties in the series against New Zealand to turn a corner. His batting during the World Cup was nothing to write home about.
Even Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were not spared when form deserted them. After the series loss in Australia and the drubbing at the hands of New Zealand at home, Rohit got the message and called it a day. Virat Kohli, like Rohit, retired before India’s away tour to England, for which Gill was named captain for the first time in Tests.
Gill, too, was dropped from the T20 team when form deserted him before the T20 World Cup even though he was the vice-captain.
As for Suryakumar, the next T20 World Cup is more than two years away, and he is not getting any younger.
Maybe if he had been given a longer run, Suryakumar, one of the most destructive T20 players in the world, would have regained form. But the selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, wants to start on a clean slate when India travels to England for a five-match T20 series, which is preceded by a two-match series in Ireland.
Dropping Suryakumar now gives the next captain enough time to ease into the role, given that 2028 is a year in which cricket returns to the Olympics after over a century, and India has the opportunity to be the first team to win a hat-trick of T20 World Cup titles.
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It was only last July that the selectors made the big decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as T20 captain for the series in Sri Lanka. Back then, Hardik Pandya, who was the vice-captain to Rohit Sharma during India’s victorious campaign in the 2024 World Cup victory, was expected to be promoted. But the selectors were worried if injury-prone Hardik would be available for all matches.
At the same selection committee meeting, Gill, the Test captain, was named Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy. This seemed to be the arrangement for the T20 World Cup, but another tough call, based on merit and not star power, was taken when the T20 World Cup team was announced months later.
This time, Gill, was dropped, and in came Ishan Kishan. Gill had struggled to up the strike rate, Kishan had made quick runs up the order and captained Jharkhand to the domestic T20 title.
If selectors decide to give Gill the reins of the T20 team also, don’t be surprised. There is logic in the choice. Gill has found his T20 batting template during the 2026 IPL, scoring 732 runs at a strike rate of 163.02, with only wonderkid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi making more runs. Gill also provides long-term continuity, given that he is still in his mid-20s. And also stability, as India will have one captain in all three formats for the first time since Rohit Sharma’s reign.
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