Suryakumar Yadav Was Not Around, Then Rishabh Pant Should Have Been Captain – Former Pakistan Captain SLAMS India Coach Gautam Gambhir

Colombo: As Gautam Gambhir gets ready for his first coaching assignment with the Indian cricket team, fingers are already being pointed at him. Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif reckons Gambhir gave a lame ‘fitness’ excuse for not making Hardik Pandya the captain. Latif also claims that his poor show as Mumbai Indians captain may have impacted the decision. Latif also goes on to say that if that is the case with Hardik, give him an ‘unfit’ certificate.

“No, here they (the claims) 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.

In a press conference before India left for the Sri Lanka tour, chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed the reason why Hardik was not chosen as Rohit’s successor in the shortest format.

“Hardik’s skill-sets are difficult to find and fitness is difficult to find. we have got a bit more time and we can look at a few things. Fitness was a clear challenge and we wanted someone who was likely to be available more often,” Agarkar said.

“We have taken general feedback from the dressing room also,” he added.

The Indian team is currently in Sri Lanka where they play a white-ball series. Suryakumar Yadav would be leading the T20I team.