The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday picked the squad for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, which begins on July 27, thus marking the start of Gautam Gambhir's tenure as the new head coach of the team. The most notable selection decision made for the tour was naming Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I captain in place of Hardik Pandya, who seemed primed for the leadership role after Rohit Sharma's retirement from the format last month.

Hardik was the vice-captain of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup on June 29 in Barbados, and it was a no-brainer when it came to taking over the reins in the T20I format after Rohit's exit. However, both Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar reckoned that Suryakumar should be named the new captain with the 2026 T20 World Cup in mind, which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026.

The decision, however, did not sit well with former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who reckoned that the Indian team management should have backed Hardik for the captaincy role given his experience of having led a T20 team in the past. Highlighting his credentials in IPL, where he led Gujarat Titans to back-to-backs finals, winning one of them, Kaif felt that Hardik did not wrong to not deserve the captaincy post.

"Hardik has captained the Gujarat Titans for 2 years and in their first year itself, they made it to the final... Hardik has experience captaining the T20I side. He was also the vice-captain at the T20 World Cup. Now, a new coach has arrived, there will be new planning. Surya is also a good player, he has been playing for years. He is a no.1 T20 player, I hope he will shoulder the captain's responsibility well. But, I feel they should have backed Hardik..." Kaif exclusively told IANS.

"Gambhir is the experienced captain and coach... He understands cricket very well. I think 'Hardik ne aisa koi galat kaam nhi kia k unko captaincy na mile' (Hardik has not done anything wrong that he should not get the captaincy)," Kaif further said.

Apart from his captaincy stints in IPL, which also includes a forgettable 2024 season with Mumbai Indians, Hardik led India in three ODIs and 16 T20Is.

"He has experience, has captained in the IPL and leading a new team (Gujarat Titans) to trophy, with fresh and young faces, is a huge thing. He has made the Titans win by working from Ground Zero in the IPL...I think he was entitled to the captaincy. So let's just wait and see," he added.