The controversy emerged in the backdrop of the leadership debate after T20 World Cup-winning captain Rohit Sharma‘s retirement from the shortest format of the game.
Pandya subsequently lost out on the T20I captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav as decided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during the squad announcement for the Sri Lanka tour.
Latif argued that the rationale behind questioning Pandya’s fitness as a factor for his non-selection as captain is flawed, pointing out that history has seen successful captains who were not necessarily at the peak of their physical fitness.
“No, here they (the claims) just hand him a certificate saying he isn’t fit and there are concerns about his fitness. There are plenty of players who weren’t super fit but still became great captains. So, I think it was just an excuse. Because if Surya wasn’t around, then Rishabh (Pant) would have been the captain since you have to look at the future,” Latif said.
Pakistan Cricket | Light In The Dark | Gautam’s Test Not India’s | Caught Behind
The BCCI’s chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, when queried about the reasons for appointing Suryakumar Yadav as the T20I captain, highlighted Yadav’s credentials and the positive feedback about him from within the dressing room.
“Why Surya was made captain? Because he is one of the deserving candidates. The one we know has been around the dressing room over the last one year. You get feedback from the dressing room a lot. He (Surya) has got a good cricketing brain and he is still one of the best T20 batters in the world,” Agarkar told the media.
Furthermore, Agarkar subtly indicated that fitness did play a role in the decision-making process, adding, “Fitness has been something that he’s struggled with. As selectors, it becomes difficult then. The thought behind it was that we want someone who is likely to be available more.”
He continued, “You want a captain that’s going to be more likely to play all the games. We think he (Surya) is a deserving candidate and hopefully, we’ll see over time how he develops into the role.”
India’s cricket team is set to commence its tour of Sri Lanka with a T20I series starting on July 27, followed by an ODI series. Both series will consist of three matches each.
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