Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was denied the leadership role as Team India made a shock captaincy pick in Suryakumar Yadav for the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Hardik’s snub and Suryakumar’s elevation as captain has sparked a big debate in the cricketing fraternity. Over the past couple of years, Hardik led India in the absence of captain Rohit Sharma, and was also assigned the vice-captaincy for the recently concluded T20 World Cup, which India won after beating South Africa in the final in Barbados.

Suryakumar, on the other hand, led India last year during the T20I series’ against Australia and South Africa.

While Rohit Sharma announced his T20I retirement last month, Hardik didn’t even get the vice-captaincy, with the selectors picking Shubman Gill for that role in both T20Is and ODIs.

Speaking in a press conference, India chief selector Ajit Agarkar clarified that fitness and availability for all matches was the reason why the national selectors opted for Suryakumar, and not Hardik, who has had a history of injury concerns.

Amid the ongoing debate, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has lashed out at the Indian selectors, saying that fitness is just an excuse for not making Hardik the captain.

“No, here they (the claims) should just hand him a certificate saying he isn’t fit and there are concerns about his fitness. There are plenty of players who weren’t super fit but still became great captains. So, I think it was just an excuse. Because if Surya wasn’t around, then Rishabh (Pant) would have been the captain since you have to look at the future,” Latif said on his YouTube channel.

The first T20I of the three-match series will begin on July 27 in Pallekele, followed by matches on July 28 and 30 at the same venue.

India’s T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.