Hardik Pandya has been going through a tough time in the past one year since the time he was made the captain of IPL side Mumbai Indians. After he replaced Rohit Sharma as the skipper of Mumbai Indians, Pandya was booed at most stadiums where the side played at the IPL 2024. After the T20 World Cup 2022, he was deemed to take over as the T20 captaincy but instead Rohit was made the skipper for the 2024 edition. Post the 2024 T20 World Cup, where he was the vice-captain, Pandya was expected to take over the captaincy again as Rohit announced retirement.

However, that did not happen as Suryakumar Yadav was named the T20I skipper for the Sri Lanka Tour. That decision, according to BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, was due to fact that Pandya has had long trysts with injury. 

Now, former Sri Lanka player Russell Arnold had an interesting analysis of the situation.  

“Well, both are exceptional players. They bring different things to the party. Suryakumar Yadav is probably one of the better T20 batters going around and the way he plays it, he obviously has to see and read the game like no one else. Hardik has also shown that,” Russell Arnold told Sports Tak. 

“But I reckon with how the IPL went and whereas Hardik couldn’t really gain the respect of everyone around him, might have prompted BCCI to look in a different direction. It’s about getting everyone to gel and keeping everyone calm and happy so that you can pull in the one direction. I’m not saying that wouldn’t have happened under Hardik, but I guess, at this particular moment, it was a good opportunity and it’s a great opportunity for Suryakumar to showcase what he can do and make it his own.”