Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris feels it is a prudent decision to let Hardik Pandya focus on being a full-time all-rounder and he can take up the leadership later. Pandya was expected to be India’s new T20I skipper after Rohit Sharma’s retirement but the selectors and the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching staff decided to back Suryakumar Yadav.

Pandya scored 144 runs in six innings at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.57 in the T20I showpiece. Pandya also scalped 11 wickets in eight matches at an average of 17.36 and an economy rate of 7.61 and came up with an inspiring performance after a disappointing IPL 2024 while leading Mumbai Indians.

“My take on Hardik Pandya is just leave him alone. Let him be a player in this team who leads by example rather than an official captain’s or vice captain’s title.”

“Once he starts leading by example in his body, and his fitness is good and he does it over a consistent period of time. Then I would look to bring back the captaincy for him,” said Styris on India Today.

Styris reckons the selectors and the coaching staff have made the right decision not to give the captaincy onus to Hardik Pandya because of injury woes.

“He can handle senior players, and he’s such a good player. He’s a good guy, all of those things. But at the moment, you know, it’s really hard to have a captain or a vice captain who’s in and out or hasn’t played a bilateral series for a year.”

“Which is what is the case for him because of injury concerns. So they have to make sure that they get him up and running. And that is, in my world, as a full all-rounder. That’s not just someone who, who bats six and bowls an over or two here or there. They need him firing on all cylinders, and so just let him concentrate on that for now. Worry about the leadership later,” said Styris.

Pandya registered figures of 0-41 in his four-overs quota in the first T20I against Sri Lanka.