Scott Styris calls Suryakumar Yadav a “short-term” captain despite 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka

Suryakumar Yadav led India to a 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka.

Scott Styris, Suryakumar Yadav (Via Imago)

After the retirement of Rohit Sharma from the T20I format, Suryakumar Yadav has replaced him as India’s new T20I captain. He led India to a 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka after becoming full-time T20I captain.

However, former New Zealand cricketer, Scott Styris, feels that Yadav is India’s short-term captaincy candidate. He stated that head coach, Gautam Gambhir, does not have any natural captaincy candidate in the squad and hence, has appointed Yadav as the new captain.

Styris went on to say that Gauti is giving himself time before appointing a long-term captain in this format. He called Shubman Gill as the one who can lead India for the next 10 years. However, as he does not have the experience, Gauti has gone with the experienced Yadav.

I think he's a short-term option. I don't think Gambhir has a natural captain among the players that he has right now. He's buying himself time as to who will be the next long-term captain, you know, someone like Gill I think could do the job for 10 years for India, but he's not quite ready right now, so I think it was a really smart decision to bring in someone with a bit more experience.

Scott Styris told India Today

Gill has been appointed as the vice-captain of the team in both T20Is and ODIs and so, the selectors are looking at him as the next captain of Team India. He also led India in the 5-game T20I series vs Zimbabwe.

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Everyone expected Hardik Pandya to replace Sharma as the new T20I captain. He has remained the vice-captain under Sharma for the past two years and also was the vice-captain in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. However, given his fitness issues, the selectors snubbed him and wanted to appoint a captain who is likely to play all the T20I series till the T20 World Cup in India in 2026.

Scott Styris calls Suryakumar Yadav a short term captain despite 3-0 whitewash — Suryakumar Yadav (Via Imago)

Yadav led India to a 4-1 series win against Australia at home after the ODI World Cup 2023. He then led India to a 1-1 draw in the series against South Africa. Now, he has inflicted a 3-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka. Moreover, he has been one of the best T20I batters in the world for the last three to four years.

Yadav is definitely the more experienced candidate and he has shown his capabilities in the three series that he has led India. If he keeps on performing, he can lead India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at home.

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