Less than a fortnight ago, cricket held India to a standstill. The India team ended the ICC trophy drought and had the grandest of welcomes when they arrived in Mumbai, the country’s cricket capital. As the hoopla ended, a new dawn quietly broke on the horizon. The T20 World Cup ended the international chapters of two of India’s most illustrious cricketers—Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli—in the shortest format. Along with them, Rahul Dravid also ended his successful tenure as head coach.
To herald the new era, Gautam Gambhir has taken Dravid’s place. He will be under immense scrutiny as well. However, right at the beginning, he has made a statement with the appointment of Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I captain. It was a curveball not many saw coming, especially after Hardik Pandya, who largely led the T20I team between the 2022 and 2024 T20 World Cups, was tipped to take the reins from Rohit. Instead, Gambhir and the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar decided to go the other way.
Both of them said on Monday that they wanted a captain who could be on the field without injury concerns; they also made it clear it was a decision based on feedback from the players. What this means for Pandya, who will feature in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, only time will tell. Gambhir and Agarkar also made it clear who they are looking at as a potential all-format successor to Rohit—Shubman Gill. The Punjab batter captained India in Zimbabwe and has been named vice-captain for the entire Sri Lanka tour. That he has already cemented his place in the ODI and Test sides only adds to the argument. Gill has the ability to up his game in the shortest format too.
The Sri Lanka series would be a fresh start for a new-look team. No one knows yet how Gambhir will handle coaching. He has brought in coaches he has worked with earlier—there are a lot of expectations riding on his team. One bright thing is that he has another ICC event in February. When the fight for the Champions Trophy comes around, Gambhir will have a chance to etch his name in gold in the history of Indian cricket.
