"I would actually feel taken care of"- Robin Uthappa on why Hardik Pandya shouldn't feel disappointed on not getting India's T20I captaincy

Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa reasoned that Hardik Pandya shouldn't feel gutted that he didn't succeed Rohit Sharma as India's T20I captain. Despite Hardik being available for the T20I series against Sri Lanka, the selectors appointed Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I captain.

When asked about the thought process behind it, chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained that a captain should be available for all the games, which may not be possible considering Pandya's injury issues. Uthappa felt the same as a fast-bowling all-rounder in India was a rare commodity that needed to be looked after properly.

Speaking to the reporters in a virtual interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network, here's what Robin Uthappa had to say about Hardik Pandya (via India Today):

"If I were in Hardik's place, I would actually feel taken care of to a certain extent. If I'm 34-35 years old and I'm someone who's been injury-prone through my career and a certain responsibility has been taken away from me with the mindset of extending my career and giving me the best chance to offer my services to my country for as long as possible, keeping that in view, I would actually say OK this is the best thing for me."

India's T20I Squad against Sri Lanka: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

---

Robin Uthappa believes Hardik Pandya will understand the team's perspective

Robin Uthappa further said that if he were in Hardik's place, he would have preferred playing more games for the country and prolonging his career over leading the side. Having known Hardik for a while, Uthappa felt the all-rounder would have made peace with the decision by understanding the perspectives of all parties involved.

On this, he stated:

"If you asked me between the two what I would pick as a human being, I would say, serving my country and winning as many World Cup championships, irrespective of whether I was a captain or whether I was just a player. Knowing Hardik Pandya on a certain level, I would say he'd be someone saying it's fine, their perspective is also right. They want a player of my quality and my caliber to be able to serve my country for as long as possible. And I would love to do that as well."

Uthappa also shed light on the fact that Hardik could step in to lead the side whenever India need a leader, an example being in the unfortunate circumstances of an injury to Suryakumar Yadav.