Gautam Gambhir's Influence Reshapes Indian Cricket Team Selection for Sri Lanka Tour

The influence of India's new coach Gautam Gambhir is visible on the entire team. The BCCI has selected separate ODI and T20 teams for the Sri Lanka tour. Looking at both the teams, it can be easily understood that the selectors have listened to Gautam with full seriousness and have also implemented his suggestion. This is the reason why Hardik Pandya, who was leading in the race to become the captain of the T20 team, suddenly lagged behind Suryakumar Yadav. Shreyas Iyer's return to the ODI team is also proof of this.

The Indian selectors announced the Indian team for the Sri Lanka tour on Thursday. Rohit Sharma is available for the ODI series. This has taken away the headache of the selectors to choose the captain of the ODI team. But making Suryakumar Yadav the captain of the T20 team would not have been an easy decision at all. Despite Hardik Pandya's reasonable claim, coach Gautam Gambhir's important role is being seen in bringing a new face.

It is believed that the reason for the delay in the selection of the Indian team has also been the debate between Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. Hardik Pandya has captained India in 3 ODIs and 16 T20 matches. He has made Gujarat Titans the champion in IPL. He was the vice-captain of India in T20 World Cup 2024. BCCI was preparing him as captain since 2022. But Gautam Gambhir had a different thinking. He wanted a captain who would play almost every match for India till the T20 World Cup in 2026. Pandya's history is full of injuries. According to reports, Gambhir asked to make Surya the captain instead of Pandya for this reason, which the selectors agreed to.

If we look at the ODI team, then seeing the name of Shreyas Iyer, Gambhir comes to mind again. Shreyas Iyer is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, whose mentor was Gautam Gambhir. KKR won the IPL 2024 title in the jugalbandi of Shreyas and Gambhir. This is the reason that when Gautam Gambhir became the coach, it was almost certain that Shreyas Iyer would return to the team. Cricket lovers know that Shreyas Iyer was dropped from the team this year by the BCCI on charges of indiscipline and he was not even offered an annual contract.

Gautam Gambhir's opinion must have been important in the selection of Harshit Rana in the ODI team. Harshit Rana plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and KKR in IPL. For this reason, Gambhir has seen his game closely. Suryakumar Yadav's absence from the ODI team despite being the captain of the T20 team is also a clear indication that teams will be selected according to the format. Ravindra Jadeja's absence is also a similar indication. However, Hardik Pandya is also not in the ODI team, but he had already asked for rest from the board for this. There was no such news about Jadeja and the board has also not clarified anything.

Indian T20 team: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khalil Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj.