"I was shocked that he was elevated to captain" - Former India batting coach analyzes Suryakumar Yadav's performance as T20I leader

Team India's former batting coach Sanjay Bangar has admitted that he was surprised when Suryakumar Yadav was named as the Men in Blue's T20I captain ahead of Hardik Pandya. Bangar, however, added that the 34-year-old has done an impressive job of leading the team so far.

Before Rohit Sharma's retirement from T20Is, Pandya had captained the team in the format on a few occasions when the Hitman was unavailable. However, following Rohit's T20I retirement, Suryakumar was named as the new captain in the format as the selectors did not want to take a risk with the injury-prone Pandya.

Speaking on Deep Point on Star Sports, Bangar praised Suryakumar for being an efficient captain and overseeing the transition phase following the T20I retirements of Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. He said (as quoted by Times of India):

"Honestly, I was shocked that he was elevated to captain because, until that point, Hardik Pandya was the captain-designate. The way he handled that transition shows his great man-management skills. It's still early days, but he's the best fit for this young squad after the retirements of Jadeja, Kohli, and Rohit. That's a big plus - he can be the leader of this new generation, someone who is one among them."

According to former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar, Suryakumar is the best choice as captain since he is also the best player in the Indian T20I team at present.

"He has a great temperament. Throughout his career, you can see that after a strong innings, he always has a smile during his interviews. He's light-hearted. Just like Bumrah for India's Test captaincy, SKY is by far the best player on this T20I team," Manjrekar said.

Suryakumar has so far led India in 20 T20I matches out of which the Men in Blue have won 15 and lost only four, while one game ended in a tie.

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"Suryakumar could be a great long-term leader" - Sanjay Manjrekar

Manjrekar added that Suryakumar could be a great long-term leader, but also emphasized that he needs to have good coaches to back him and the team.

"In T20Is, if you have a great coach working alongside the captain, because you need outside inputs, I think he could be a great long-term leader. I'm very excited to see if he has any say in team selection because I’m looking forward to watching players like Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh making a comeback, and even Varun Chakravarthy getting a chance," Manjrekar explained.

Under Suryakumar, Team India are currently 2-1 up in the five-match home series against England. The fourth T20I will be played in Pune on Friday, January 31.