Ravichandran Ashwin congratulates Suryakumar Yadav on being named India's captain for T20Is against Australia

Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has congratulated teammate and star batter Suryakumar Yadav for being named India's captain for the T20I series against Australia. The series is set to begin on Thursday, November 23.

Arguably the best T20 batter in the world at the moment, 'SKY' was a part of the Indian squad that went all the way to the final of the 2023 World Cup. After the defeat in the final, the build-up for next year's T20 World Cup is set to begin with the upcoming five T20Is.

Since Hardik Pandya is out injured with an ankle injury that will take some time to recover from, Suryakumar Yadav has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading a new-look Indian team.

Ravichandran Ashwin congratulated Suryakumar for being named as the captain and called leading the country an "honor."

"Congrats Surya Kumar, go well buddy," he wrote on his Instagram story. "Honor to lead the country.

---

Suryakumar Yadav widely considered crucial to India's T20 World Cup 2024 chances

With just over six months remaining for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, India would be looking to get past the ODI World Cup disappointment and start moving towards their next goal.

With Hardik not available and the T20I team combination still facing question marks in certain areas, it will be interesting to see how Suryakumar works with interim coach VVS Laxman. The 3-2 series defeat to West Indies earlier certainly has given India a lot to think about.

---

India's squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar. (Shreyas Iyer will be joining the team in the final two T20Is as vice-captain).