SL vs IND: Ready to be 'SKY high'

Though there are talks going on about who will lead Indiarsquos T20 side in Sri Lankamdashattacking batsman Suryakumar Yadav or allrounder Hardik Pandyamdashcoaches reckon that Suryakumar will be the ideal candidate for the job considering his vast international experience and attacking style of battingIndiarsquos new head coach Gautam Gambhir will also start his coaching stint with the national team in a threematch T20I series against Sri Lankastarting in Pallekele on July 27 Good international exposureFormer Gujarat batsman and current Baroda head coach Mukund Parmar who coached the Suryakumarled India U23 team to Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup triumph at Singapore in 2013 stressed that the Mumbai cricketer has enough international exposure under his belt and is ready to take the leadership challenge While former Mumbai U23 coach Vilas Godbole under whose guidance Suryakumar led Mumbai U23 to the CK Nayudu Trophy triumph in 201112 felt the ICC No 2 T20 batsman will be the perfect choice to replace Rohit Sharma as Indiarsquos T20 captain Mukund Parmar and Vilas GodboleldquoSurya has got the experience of leading India U23 as well as Mumbai senior team He has leadership qualities Secondly he has been playing for India for long and has worked with head coaches Rahul Dravid and earlier Ravi Shastri He knows the way forward And now he will be with Gambhirrdquo Parmar told midday from Baroda on Wednesday Suryakumar led India at the senior level in seven T20Is and emerged a winner in five of those games while two ended in defeat In those seven matches he scored 300 runs at an average of 4286 Even his fourth T20I centurymdash100 off 56 balls versus South Africa at Johannesburg in 2023mdashwas registered during Indiarsquos 106run win when he was leading a team comprising Ravindra Jadeja Shubman Gill and Rinku SinghGodbole felt Suryakumar is a better choice as skipper than Pandya or Shubman Gill who helped the young Indian team beat Zimbabwe 41 in Harare last weekldquoIn T20 cricket Surya walks in as a skipper Gill is not sure whether he will get into the side And the way Hardik led Mumbai Indians in IPL17 it has gone against himrdquo Godbole remarked Also ReadSuryakumar to lead India in T20Is against Sri Lanka in Hardiks absence SourcesGodbole wants Suryakumar to be Indiarsquos T20 captain till the next T20 World CupFine decisionmakerldquoSuryarsquos plus point is that he is an aggressive and positive cricketer You need exactly the same type of cricketer and batsman in T20 cricket Such a captain may get his decisions wrong but he is very capable of taking decisions that are more important and I am very confident about his captaincy skills His mindset is attacking just like the way he bats I am sure he will be a successful captain too He is the right person to shoulder the captaincy responsibility till the next T20 World Cup in 2026rdquo added Godbole When asked about his memories of Suryakumarrsquos leadership qualities during Indiarsquos win in Singapore Parmar said ldquoA lot of players like Jasprit Bumrah KL Rahul Axar Patel and Unmuk Chand were in the squadrdquoSuryakumar scored 109 in five games and claimed two wickets in the final against Pakistan ldquoI think we played very well and he led from the front Playing IPL for so many years he has got exposure and I donrsquot see any problem with that Suryakumar leading IndiardquoICC T20I rankings Surya holds on to No 2 spotSuryakumar Yadav is the highest placed Indian in 2nd place behind Australiarsquos Travis Head while opener Yashasvi Jaiswal occupies the sixth position in the latest ICC T20I batting rankings released following Indiarsquos 41 series win over Zimbabwe Ruturaj Gaikwad has dropped a place to the eighth position in the T20I batters list