‘Didn’t discuss Surya for ODIs’: Agarkar

Suryakumar Yadav. Pic/Getty Images

National chief selector Ajit Agarkar reckoned Suryakumar Yadav deserves the leadership role and hence has been appointed India captain for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka starting on July 27 in Pallekele. However, the former India pacer revealed that the star batter's name was not even discussed in the selection meeting where they picked the Rohit Sharma-led 15-member squad for the three-match ODI series against SL to be played from August 2 in Colombo.

No spot available

Rohit and Virat Kohli, who had announced their retirement from the shortest format after India's T20 World Cup triumph in the USA and West Indies recently, are obviously key players, but with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, who were part of the ODI World Cup team last year, and Rishabh Pant returning to the 50-over format, Agarkar felt there's no space for Suryakumar in the middle-order in ODIs currently.

"No, we haven't discussed Surya at this point in ODIs. We have got Shreyas back, KL is back, they've had great World Cups. Rishabh is back as well. So, there is some real quality in the middle order. Surya has been a T20 player," Agarkar said at a press conference in reply to mid-day's question on whether they discussed Suryakumar's name during the ODI team selection.

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Suryakumar, 33, has represented the country in 68 T20Is, 37 ODIs and one Test so far. Agarkar revealed how his committee decided to give the T20I captaincy to Suryakumar, who has led in seven T20Is so far, winning five. "Surya has been made captain because he's one of the deserving candidates. We get a lot of feedback from the dressing room. He has a good cricket brain. He's still one of the best T20I batters in the world. You want a captain who can play all games," Agarkar said.

Former Test opener and India's new head coach Gautam Gambhir, who will be beginning a new innings with the national team in Sri Lanka, hinted that in future, there's a possibility of different teams for the three formats.

Three different teams

"Going forward, these things can happen. Virat, Rohit and Ravindra [Jadeja] are not there in T20Is. Right now, you can say there will be three different teams. T20 cricket is going through a transition, but in the 50-over format and Test cricket, consistency is key. We can find players who play these two formats consistently," Gambhir remarked.

Agarkar echoed the same feelings: "We are on the same page. If you have players, who can play all three formats, then we include them, because that means they are quality players." Agarkar lavished praise on opener Shubman Gill, who led India's young team to a 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe recently, and considered him a future leadership prospect. Gill was appointed vice-captain to Suryakumar and Rohit in both the T20I and ODI teams respectively for the SL tour.

‘Gill is three-format player'

"Shubman is a guy, we feel, is a three-format player firstly and seems to show a lot more qualities over the last year or so that we hear from the dressing room. And that's what we want to try and have, somebody who can also learn from a couple of the senior guys there, Surya in this instance or Rohit, who is still around. So, we don't face the same challenges of trying to look for a captain in case there are injuries or loss of form somewhere. He's shown some decent leadership qualities and we want to try and get him the experience, going forward," Agarkar remarked.