Will Suryakumar Yadav Replace Hardik Pandya As MI Captain?: Suryakumar Yadav, India men’s captain in T20Is, said that he has been enjoying his time as skipper and also hinted on potentially leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Suryakumar took the captaincy reins from Rohit Sharma after India won the T20 World Cup 2024 and the latter retired from the format. However, the decision came as a surprise to many as India all-rounder Hardik Pandya appeared poised to be next in line given that he was the vice-captain to Rohit.
After Suryakumar was handed the captaincy duties of India, rumours were strife that Pandya could also be stripped off his captaincy in the MI setup in the IPL 2025 season and Suryakumar could replace him.
Suryakumar Yadav Breaks Silence On Mumbai Indians Captaincy
Ahead of the India vs Bangladesh T20I series opener on October 6 (Sunday), Suryakumar addressed the media, reflecting on his experience as India captain while playfully handling questions about his IPL captaincy aspirations.
“Aapne googly daal diya aapne (laughs) (You put me in a spot with a wrong ‘un). Really enjoying this new role (as India captain). When I was playing under Rohit bhai’s captaincy in MI, I used to give my inputs whatever I felt at that time,” said the Indian T20Is captain as quoted by PTI.
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Suryakumar also reflected on India captaincy, remarking that he has learnt from other captains. On is IPL captaincy goals, Suryakumar remained indirect, responding with “aapko pata toh chal hee jayega.”
“For India also feeling good. I captained against Sri Lanka previously against Australia and South Africa also. I have learnt from other captains on how to take the team forward. Aage dekhte hain. Chalte rahta hain. Baaki aapko pata toh chal hee jayega (Let’s see how it goes. Rest you will know in due course of time),” Suryakumar said.
Pandya Replaced Rohit As MI Captain Ahead Of IPL 2024
For those unversed, Rohit, five-time IPL winning captain with Mumbai, was stripped of captaincy by the Mumbai Indians management ahead of the IPL 2024 season, a move that was not received well by Rohit fans. Pandya, who Mumbai traded in from Gujarat Titans, was given the captaincy reins and Mumbai performed terribly under him despite the team boasting of top players like Rohit, Suryakumar, Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishan Kishan.
Mumbai became the first team to get eliminated from the IPL 2024. They ended the season with just four wins out of 14 games.