‘Not Surprised At All’ – Ashish Nehra Reacts to Hardik Pandya’s T20I Captaincy Snub

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Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra has reacted to Hardik Pandya’s snub as the T20I captain of the Indian cricket team, stating that he was not surprised by the decision of the Indian management.

Notably, Hardik Pandya, who was the frontrunner to take over the reins from Rohit Sharma as the T20 International captain of Team India, was overlooked. Instead, Suryakumar Yadav was appointed as the captain, with Shubman Gill taking over as deputy.

Here’s what the head coach of Gujarat Titans, who worked closely with Hardik Pandya in the IPL 2022 and 2023 seasons, told SportsTak:

“No, I am not surprised. When it comes to cricket, these things keep happening. Yes, Hardik Pandya was vice-captain in the World Cup, but at the same time, there is a new coach who has come in. Every coach and every captain have different thoughts. At this time, his (Gambhir’s) ideas are toward that direction.”

Hardik Pandya Remains A Very Important Player – Ashish Nehra 

The newly appointed head coach of Team India, Gautam Gambhir, and the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, provided reasoning that since Hardik Pandya is very injury-prone and misses a lot of cricket, it was a good decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav, a regular in T20 cricket, as the captain of India.

Ashish Nehra, while agreeing with Gambhir and Agarkar, stated that Hardik Pandya, despite not being the captain of the team in either format, will remain a key asset for the Men in Blue:

“I think Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir have made it clear, and that’s good. He is playing one format, 50-over also, he is playing less. Hardik Pandya, in white-ball cricket, will remain a very, very important player for Indian cricket,” he added.

“When you have him, you can have four fast bowlers; he brings a different balance to the side. Keep in mind that there’s no impact player in international cricket. Not just Hardik Pandya, but when you have so many matches, there will be changes. Even Rishabh Pant has captained, KL Rahul has captained,” Nehra said.

It was under the leadership of Hardik Pandya that Gujarat Titans won the IPL title in the 2022 season of the tournament. During that time, the coach of Gujarat was Ashish Nehra. The team even made it to the final in the next season in 2023. However, after Hardik Pandya left, the team suffered a downfall in the 2024 season.

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