Hardik Pandya Missing From Suryakumar Yadav's First Huddle As Captain Ahead Of IND vs SL: Report

Hardik Pandya was reportedly absent in Suryakumar Yadav's first huddle as India's T20I captain but later attended the practice session ahead of IND vs SL T20Is.

Hardik Pandya was reportedly missing from Suryakumar Yadav's first huddle as captain.

Source : PTI

Hardik Pandya, the star India all-rounder, was expected to be India's T20I captain going forward with him acting as the deputy to Rohit Sharma in the team's victorious T20 World Cup 2024 campaign and Rohit having announced his retirement from the format.

However, it wasn't to be for Hardik as chief selector Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee named Suryakumar Yadav as the skipper for the Sri Lanka series. Notably, Hardik was at the forefront of India's win in the USA and the West Indies with him having the ball in hand with the opposition needing to win 16 off 6 balls.

READ HERE | Sri Lanka Announce Squad For T20I Series Against India, Assign New Captain

Hardik became the nation's hero as he successfully helped India defend 16 and clinch the match by 7 runs to clinch the T20 World Cup title. Not much after, however, Hardik not only announced his separation from Natasa Stankovic but even got the news that the selectoes and news coach Gautam Gambhir were not looking at him as a leadership option in T20Is.

And now a tweet carried by a journalist who works for Dainik Jagran suggests that Hardik was absent in Suryakumar Yadav's first huddle as captain.

"Today was the first practice session of the Indian team in Sri Lanka. The source present there told that when the new captain Suryakumar Yadav called the team for the first time in the Hurdle to address it, Hardik Pandya was not included in it. Now it is not known why he was not there at that time. However, he joined the practice session later," he wrote.

 

आज श्रीलंका में भारतीय टीम का पहला अभ्यास सत्र था। वहां मौजूद सूत्र ने बताया कि जब नए कप्तान सूर्यकुमार यादव ने पहली बार हर्डल में टीम को संबोधित करने के लिए बुलाया तो उसमें हार्दिक पांड्या शामिल नहीं थे। अब वह किस कारण उस समय वहां नहीं थे ये मालूम नहीं। हालांकि वह बाद में अभ्यास…

— Abhishek Tripathi / अभिषेक त्रिपाठी (@abhishereporter) July 23, 2024

IND Vs SL To Commence On July 27

India's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka will commence on July 27 with the first of the three T20Is kicking off things on July 27. While Suryakumar is leading the T20I side, Rohit Sharma will be at the helm of affairs in ODIs in a team which also includes Virat Kohli.