‘I think he’s a short-term option’ – Scott Styris reflects on Suryakumar Yadav’s India captaincy

Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris reckons giving T20I captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav is a short-term option. SKY took over the captaincy baton from Rohit Sharma, who retired after leading India to glory in the T20 World Cup. SKY led India in seven T20Is against Australia and South Africa in 2023 and won five games

In fact, Hardik Pandya was expected to be India’s new T20I captain but the selectors and the team’s think tank ignored him due to fitness issues. SKY is currently 33 and he is expected to lead India in the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill has been appointed as the vice-captain in the limited overs format and Styris reckons the selectors want him to get ready. Gill recently led India to a 4-1 T20I series win against Zimbabwe and also leads Gujarat Titans in the IPL.

“I think he’s a short-term option. I don’t think Gambhir has a natural captain among the players that he has right now. He’s buying himself time as to who will be the next long-term captain, you know, someone like Gill I think could do the job for 10 years for India, but he’s not quite ready right now, so I think it was a really smart decision to bring in someone with a bit more experience,” Scott Styris said on Sony Sports.

“If he (SKY) does a decent enough job, then he might be the captain at the next T20 World Cup. And then after that, you can look at Gill or any of the other potential options around. But yeah, I think it’s a really clever decision,” said Styris.

Suryakumar Yadav has kicked off his captaincy stint on a high, winning the first two matches against Sri Lanka and the visitors have taken an impregnable 2-0 series lead.

The third and final T20I of the series will be played at Pallekele on Tuesday.