Watch: Gambhir Carries Souvenir From KKR In First Practice As India Coach

The newly-appointed Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir will begin his tenure with the tour of Sri Lanka which consists of 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs. Ahead of the T20I series starting Saturday, Gambhir had his first practice session with the cricketers since his appointment. The video of the Indian cricket team arriving for the practice session was posted online by the official broadcasters and social media users were delighted to see Gambhir carrying a souvenir from Kolkata Knight Riders. The former India batter had a bag with the KKR logo and his name as he made it way into the stadium.

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Gambhir has a deep connection with KKR as he led the franchise to two Indian Premier League (IPL) titles in 2012 and 2014 as captain. He later joined KKR as their mentor for IPL 2024 and he played a pivotal role in guiding the Shreyas Iyer-led side to their third IPL trophy.

Before leaving for the island nation, Gambhir addressed his first press conference with chief selector Ajit Agarkar, who revealed the reason behind the appointment of Suryakumar as the T20I captain over all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

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"He is one of the deserving candidates. He is one of the best T20 batters in the world. We wanted a captain who was likely to play all the games. We will see how he will do," Agarkar told the reporters.

"As far as Hardik is concerned, he is still a very important player. And that's what we want him to be. Fitness has been a challenge for him over the last few years...Then it becomes difficult for the coach or selectors. I think Surya has the necessary qualities to succeed as a captain," he added.

The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka will be played in Pallekele on Saturday.

India T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

(With IANS inputs)