"Gautam Gambhir's Ideas Are...": Ashish Nehra's Blunt Take On Hardik Pandya's Captaincy Snub

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya found the leadership responsibility in the shortest format, which seemed to be his after Rohit Sharma's retirement, taken away from him after Gautam Gambhir was hired as the team's new head coach. Gambhir, in consultation with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, handed the captaincy responsibility to Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is, while Shubman Gill was made his deputy. Reflecting on the decision, Ashish Nehra, the man who coached Hardik during his role as captain at Gujarat Titans, isn't surprised to see this move by the Indian team management.

Hardik and Nehra had a successful stint at Gujarat Titans as captain-coach, which saw the team reach two Indian Premier League finals in two years, winning one. But, Nehra feels Gambhir has some other ideas with respect to the way he plans to run the Indian team going forward, and Hardik doesn't come into those plans as a captain or vice-captain.

"No, I am not surprised. When it comes to cricket, these things keep happening. Yes, Hardik Pandya was vice-captain in the World Cup, but at the same time, there is a new coach who has come in. Every coach and every captain have different thoughts. At this time, his (Gambhir's) ideas are toward that direction," Nehra told Sports Tak.

In the press conference before Team India flight to Sri Lanka, Agarkar cited fitness as the primary reason behind the decision to deny T20I captaincy to Hardik. Nehra too was in agreement with the chief selector on the topic.

"I think Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir have made it clear, that's good. He is playing one format, 50-over also, he is playing less. Hardik Pandya, in white-ball cricket, will remain a very, very important player for Indian cricket. When you have him, you