Ajit Agarkar must decide Suryakumar Yadav's fate: BCCI told to end split captaincy as Virat Kohli-style leader waiting

The growing chatter around Shubman Gill’s aura and how he silenced critics with his captaincy in England, just weeks after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, has sparked a bigger question — how long will Suryakumar Yadav remain India’s T20I captain? Will he lead in the Asia Cup, or will selectors make a big call ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup? Suryakumar Yadav managed just 28 runs in the five T20Is against England (PTI)

One of the major selection headaches for the Ajit Agarkar-led committee in picking the squad for the Asia Cup, which will begin next month in the UAE, will be on how to fit Gill. The 25-year-old has not played the format since the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2024, amid the priority over Test cricket for the Australia tour and the 50-over format for the Champions Trophy.

Having produced a thundering show in the Test series in England, where he scored a record 754 runs in 10 innings to help India pull off a stunning 2-2 draw in the five-match contest, there has been a growing consensus over wanting Gill's return to the T20I format for the Asia Cup.

Former India selector Devang Gandhi told The Times of India that Gill has built an aura akin to Virat Kohli in 2017, when the latter was groomed under MS Dhoni. Praising Agarkar’s foresight in naming Gill Test captain, he said there was no reason the star batter shouldn’t lead in T20Is and urged the chief selector to take "clear" call on Suryakumar’s successor.

"Gill has built an aura similar to what Virat had in 2017. Virat was groomed under MS Dhoni. Gill is also at his peak, like Virat was. He, too, has reacted to captaincy as well as Virat did. Ajit Agarkar has shown great foresight by appointing Gill as Test captain. There’s no reason why Gill shouldn’t be in a leadership role in T20. The messaging has to be clear about who takes over after Surya,” he said.

Gandhi cautioned that split captaincy rarely works in India, stressing the need for stability when a prolific all-format player is already leading in one format. He added that Gill has “ticked all the boxes” as a batter and brings IPL captaincy experience.

“Unlike other countries, split captaincy doesn’t work in India in the long run because you crave stability in the thought process. When you have a prolific all-format player leading in one format, it becomes difficult to not hand him the same responsibility in the other format. Gill has ticked all the boxes as a batter. And he has led in IPL,” he added.

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