File photo of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.© AFP
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh expressed his shock over Hardik Pandya's snub as captain of the T20I team. Hardik was all set to replace Rohit as captain following the latter's retirement from the format. He was India's vice-captain during the T20 World Cup success in June. However, the BCCI made a surprise call by elevating Suryakumar Yadav for the captaincy role. During a recent interaction, it wasn't right to ignore Hardik for captaincy.
"I was (surprised). Upto some extent, I was (disappointed). He was your vice-captain...when Rohit Sharma is not the captain, your vice-captain becomes the captain. But if you tell him on fitness ground that you will not be the captain - there's no T20I cricket round the year," Harbhajan told Sports Yaari.
Harbhajan added losing captaincy must be a huge setback for him.
"He came after winning the T20 World Cup and suddenly, it's a big setback for him. It's not right. I have great respect for Suryakumar Yadav. Phenomenal player, great guy...very selfless. Even he wouldn't have though that this would happen," he added.
Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma have been picked as the wicketkeeper-batters in the side. Young left-hand opener Abhishek Sharma returned to the squad after not being picked in the Sri Lanka T20Is. The players who will accompany him will be Riyan Parag and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Shivam Dube have been included in the squad as the all-rounders.
Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakaravarthy have been picked as the spinners of the team, whereas Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Mayank Yadav are added to the team as seamers.
The BCCI named a 15-man squad last week for the upcoming three-match series against Bangladesh, with Suryakumar set to lead the team. The three matches will be played on October 6 (Gwalior), Oct 9 (New Delhi) and Oct 12 (Hyderabad).
India's 15-Member Squad for Bangladesh T20Is:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav