Admit it. Suryakumar Yadav's promotion as India's T20I captain was a move no one saw coming. It was almost as if the BCCI blindsided everyone as the entire Indian cricket fanbase eagerly anticipated the revelation of Rohit Sharma's successor. It was always going to be Hardik Pandya. The man captained India for an entire year and returned good results, but his dreaded history of injuries and fitness laid waste to his captaincy prospects. The fact that Hardik wasn't even considered for India's vice-captaincy made BCCI's perspective crystal clear that they don't view Pandya as a leadership contender anymore. So what if he led Gujarat Titans to their maiden IPL title on debut and followed it with a runner-up finish the following season?

The decision to make Surya captain was mostly due to the positive dressing room feedback the selectors received. Besides, he has a fine record as India's T20I captain, having led the team to a 4-1 win against Australia at home, barely four days after the ODI World Cup concluded. However, former India spinner Pragyan Ojha raised an interesting point when he unearthed an old connection between Surya and the new head coach Gautam Gambhir. 10 years ago, when Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders to their 2nd IPL title, a very familiar name served as his deputy.

"I am quite sure that the selectors would have thought about it, but if you see, the T20 World Cup is in 2026. So with that they wanted someone maturity and experience. So who better than Suryakumar Yadav? Had it been Hardik – because that is what we were expecting since he was the vice-captain in the World Cup – there were few challenges that he too had to face as far as the fitness is concerned. So looking at all the dynamics, I feel Surya is a great choice," Ojha told OneIndia.

"He is a street-smart guy. He has a great camaraderie with Gautam Gambhir. They have played together, and if you remember, when Gauti bhai was leading KKR, Surya was the vice-captain. So that understanding and that trust level is always there. Hardik, they thought that maybe fitness can trouble him. So, the next best person was Suryakumar Yadav."

SKY's time at KKR with Gambhir

Interestingly, it was Gambhir who first game up with the nickname 'SKY' for Suryakumar during their time at KKR. Gambhir has previously talked about the truckloads of talent Surya possessed back then. He was also the captain of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team during the 2014-15 season and hence, the pieces simply fit.

Surprisingly though, that talent didn't materialise as one would have expected. In four seasons with KKR, Surya played 55 matches scoring just 608 runs. In 2018, he jumped ships to Mumbai Indians and pummeled 512 runs in the first season itself. Since, there has been no looking back for SKY as season after season, he belted runs and played a key role in MI's title wins in IPL 2019 and 2020.

The Surya-GG combination is set to reunite in two days when India take on Sri Lanka in a three T20I series starting Saturday which officially marks the beginning of the Gambhir era in Indian cricket.