Team India – Where does the rise of Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav leave Hardik Pandya?

How quickly the world can change.

Eight months ago, India lost one World Cup final and then won another. Three regulars have retired from T20Is, and the most influential head coach has moved on. It’s time for a new era in white-ball cricket, and the selectors have spoken, very clearly, about what they think it will look like.

The figurehead is not one of the captains, but the captain-in-waiting, Gill, and he may not be waiting that long. Rohit, the Test and ODI captain, will turn 38 next April, between the Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship final, and will be 40 when the next ODI World Cup begins . It will be resilience, patience and desire if he is still playing for India at that time, let alone being the captain.

It helps, of course, that Gill is a top-order batter. Jasprit Bumrah is India’s most important cricketer in all formats, but he is a fast bowler and needs rest and rotation to ensure his presence in all major events. India cannot make him their full-time captain, therefore, even though he is one of the most respected figures in their dressing room and one of their sharpest brains.

Suryakumar, meanwhile, is still a one-format player and a one-format captain. India gave him a Test debut last year and batted him at No.6 in their ODI World Cup campaign when an injured Hardik left the tournament midway through, but now he seems to have got his chance in the two longer formats. . The T20 captaincy is a recognition of Suryakumar’s preeminence in that format, and perhaps, also, his growing distinction in the other two.

Where is all this Hardik? He is three years younger than Suryakumar, a year-and-a-half younger than KL Rahul, and only two months older than Bumrah, among the candidates who may have been in discussion for current or future captaincy roles. Injuries, however, have cost Hardik a lot of playing time – he has played just 46 of India’s 79 T20Is since the start of 2022, and just 23 of 59 ODIs.

Now that he is 30 years old, he will find it very difficult to keep himself fit and firing, and ready to bowl. Other factors may have contributed to his upbringing, but his record of fitness is probably the most important.

When he is fit, however, he remains a world-class white-ball player, a batsman who can slot anywhere from No.4 to No.7 and a bowler who can be one of the three seamers. India have plenty of other options – Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Riyan Parag are in both squads to Sri Lanka – but none have Hardik’s impact on their team balance. Ravindra Jadeja has that effect in Test cricket, but he is also not a true all-rounder in white-ball cricket.

But Hardik is that player when he’s fit, and there’s no reason why he can’t continue to be that player, if he stays fit – at least in T20Is. It is not clear whether he still wants to play ODIs – he is taking a break from 50-over cricket at the moment – and whether the selectors will welcome him if he makes himself available.

This is the headache that Hardik has given the selectors, coaches and captains of India during his career. Talent-wise, he could be an all-format star; his injury record, however, has turned him into a one-format player who is often unavailable – or partially available, as a lone batsman – even in that format. This may end his captaincy ambitions.

It must be a terrible thought for a player who has never indulged in such ambitions. But it may also encourage the competitor to question the extent of his ambition, and how much he is willing to sacrifice in trying to achieve it.