Sanjay Bangar Questions Hardik Pandya's T20I Captaincy Omission

Sanjay Bangar, former India cricketer and batting coach, has expressed his disappointment over the decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as India's T20I captain for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, instead of Hardik Pandya. Bangar believes that Pandya, who played a crucial role in India's recent T20 successes, has been unfairly overlooked.

Bangar expressed surprise that Pandya was not given the captaincy, considering his strong leadership record. Pandya has led the Indian team to 10 victories in 16 T20Is, while Yadav has captained Team India in seven T20Is, winning five of them.

"I am a bit surprised as far as Hardik not being the captain of the T20 team is concerned because even before the previous T20 World Cup it seemed like if Rohit hadn't become the captain and Hardik hadn't gotten injured at that time, Hardik only would have become the captain," Bangar said on Star Sports.

Bangar acknowledged that Yadav has a lot of experience and has led Mumbai in domestic cricket, but he still feels that Pandya has been treated unfairly. "I fully believe that he [Yadav] will do a good job, but I still feel a little injustice has been meted out to Hardik," Bangar said.

While acknowledging that selectors and coach Gautam Gambhir might have explained their reasons to Pandya, Bangar opined that the all-rounder would still feel hurt by the decision. "As a player, you are always understanding what the selectors are trying to do, what the new coach is trying to do but deep within himself, I am pretty sure that Hardik will be deeply hurt that he is not being considered for T20 captaincy," Bangar stated.

Tags: #Cricket, #T20I, #India, #SriLanka, #SanjayBangar