Hardik Pandya is India's best seam-bowling all-rounder by some distance. There are no doubts about it. Not too long ago, he was also the best candidate to replace Rohit Sharma as India's white-ball skipper. He after all, captained India in the 19 matches (16 T20Is and three ODIs) between June 2022 and August 2023. After achieving 12 wins in 19 of those, the man from Baroda was also looked at as the captain to lead India's charge in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

But that didn't happen as Rohit Sharma returned to the T20I scheme of things barely a few months before the tournament. Hardik played as the vice-captain. Both performed well. India won the World Cup. All worked out well.

As India prepared for life after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli (both retired) in T20Is, Hardik should have been at the forefront with all his credentials as a player and proven track record as captain. But he isn't. The selectors and new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, preferred Suryakumar Yadav as the T20I captain for the Sri Lanka tour. Hardik was not even considered as the vice-captain. It went to Shubman Gill.

How Hardik Pandya fell out of favour

There was no problem with Pandya's performance. He was one of India's most consistent cricketers with both bat and ball in the T20 World Cup. Then what prompted the change? What is the reason behind this harsh treatment towards Hardik Pandya?

Like many things in Indian cricket, the answer is not straightforward. Those in the knowhow say Hardik's fitness was the biggest issue. Things first started to go south for the 30-year-old all-rounder, when he unfortunately twisted his ankle while bowling during India's fourth ODI World Cup group stage match against New Zealand. The injury was serious and he was out of action for five months.

This was not the first time Pandya suffered a serious injury. He has had major issues with his back in the past that prevented him from bowling for almost a couple of years. With the T20 World Cup just six months away, the selectors and the board did not feel confident picking him as the captain.

Rohit, meanwhile, wanted to have another crack at an ICC title after India's heartbreaking defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup final. A decision to make Rohit the captain over Hardik was made after the all-rounder’s fitness status remained uncertain. Head coach Rahul Dravid was also persuaded to stay on till this year's T20 World Cup with the assurance that will work with Rohit as the leader.

After all this came the IPL, where Hardik had a disastrous outing as a leader and player. This saw many lose faith in his abilities.

On the face of it, a poor IPL campaign shouldn’t influence India selection. But his leadership skills didn’t inspire confidence. It didn’t help that “he could never win the dressing room at MI and many felt he couldn’t be trusted to rally the national team together,” a BCCI official told Hindustan Times.

Hardik, however, was still the second-best option after Rohit. That is exactly why he was named Rohit's deputy in the T20 World Cup side. He had the backing of Rohit and Dravid. But now with both of them out from T20I scheme of things, new coach Gambhir wanted stability. He did not outrightly bat for Suryakumar Yadav as the new T20I captain but made it clear he would not want to work with a captain whose workload needs to be managed.

Indian players prefer Surya

Pandya asking for a break from the Sri Lanka ODIs due to personal issues also played a factor and proved Gambhir's doubts right.

All this was going on; the BCCI received feedback from the players. They preferred Surya over Hardik and were more comfortable in his leadership, reported The Indian Express. "It is said that the feedback received by the board was that players trusted Surya more than Pandya and were more comfortable working under him," said the report.

It added that Surya's calm approach and communication skills during last year's home series against Australia and in the South Africa tour impressed the Indian players. Many in the team also believe that his captaincy style was similar to Rohit, who emphasised one-to-one communication.

The decision, however, was not simple. Despite all this, there were a few in the board and in the selection committee who felt Pandya was the right candidate to take India's T20 team forward. That is where coach Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar's views became the dealbreaker. They were on the same page about picking Suryakumar as the T20 captain.

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