While all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been tipped as Rohit Sharma's successor as India's captain in limited-overs cricket for a while now, it seems like there is a twist in the tale just when the time arrived for a change in guard. Rohit remains available for ODIs but retired from T20Is after leading India to victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) selection committee scheduled to meet on Thursday to decide the squad for the upcoming limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka, reports have now emerged that pegs Suryakumar Yadav as the new favourite to lead the team in T20Is.

Pandya's issues with injuries seemed to have pushed him down in the race. However, fans online don't seem too happy with the possibility that the all-rounder won't be leading India. Hours after reports of Suryakumar Yadav being the new favourite emerged, "WE WANT CAPTAIN HARDIK" started trending on X, former known as Twitter.

This is just one of many indicators since India won the T20 World Cup of just how drastically Pandya has turned things around in his favour.

The all-rounder had an extraordinarily bad season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) just before the tournament, copping boos from the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium almost every game as the fans refused to accept him as captain of the Mumbai Indians. The atmosphere affected his performances as well as scored just 216 runs and took 11 wickets with an economy of 10.72 and MI finished bottom of the table.

However, he put all that behind and was one of the key figures in India winning their first ICC trophy since 2013 and their first T20 World Cup since 2007. Pandya was back to being a highly effective finisher with the bat, scoring 144 runs at a strike rate of 151.57 with one half-century to his name. He was also crucial as India's third seamer in the Caribbean leg and fourth seamer in the group stage in New York, taking 11 wickets and maintaining an economy of 7.64.

Importantly, Pandya bowled the last over of the final against South Africa, with the Proteas needing 16 to win from six balls. They ended up scoring just eight runs in it with the dangerous David Miller falling off the first ball that he bowled. Pandya had earlier taken the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen, who had smashed 24 runs in the 15th over to bring South Africa within 30 runs off victory off the last 30 balls.

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