Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership in the three-match series against Sri Lanka that begins this Saturday in Pallekele is much anticipated as India prepares to open a new chapter in T20 cricket following their World Cup victory in June.
Suryakumar made his T20 international cricket debut in 2021, and with his calm demeanour and composed style, former India fielding coach R Sridhar is confident in the batsman’s capacity to set an example for others.
“Surya has matured a lot from what I know of him from the earlier days, when I was at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), where he used to come as a young athlete, who was very aggressive and very upbeat. But now, if you see, he’s much more mature. He’s got a much more mellowed head on his shoulders, and he’s an astute thinker of the game.”
“I mean, he might not have led many matches over franchise cricket, or even for India – he’s led about eight games. I remember doing commentary in one of the India-Australia series, where he did a tremendous job. He also did a fabulous job in South Africa in the very short rain-curtailed series which he captained.
“Mind you, captaincy is not only about leading the team on the field. Captaincy is all about keeping your players in good space, even off the field, having those right conversations with them, and making sure that each and every player, who’s not just only in the squad, but also outside the squad, on the fringe of making it to the eleven, they’re also in good space, and they’re also well taken care of.
“So captaincy brings a lot more onto the table for Surya. It is going to be challenging initially, but I think Surya is someone who’ll take to it like fish to water,” says Sridhar in an exclusive conversation with IANS, facilitated by Sony Sports News.
Suryakumar experienced leadership for the first time as he was selected as Mumbai’s captain for the 2014–15 domestic cricket season. But it was a dull time, and Suryakumar lost out on the Mumbai leadership role due to accusations that his irascible personality led to indiscipline.
2019 saw Mumbai reinstall Suryakumar as captain after the cool-headed guy made positive changes in his life, particularly securing the India cap. He would lead Mumbai in 16 T20 matches for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy between 2019 and 2021.
Although Sridhar believes Suryakumar has what it takes to captain India, he must focus on selecting the best playing eleven and maintaining effective communication.
“He’s got all the wherewithal to be a successful captain. But now that the captaincy is a full-time thing, with that comes more pressure, because his communication has to be more spot on. He needs to know what combination he needs. Obviously, he needs to gel with the new coach, Gautam Gambhir, who is also a no-nonsense person.”
Sridhar claims that Suryakumar benefited from playing for the national team under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as well as from being Gambhir’s vice captain for the Kolkata Knight Riders. “The fact that Surya knows Gautam Gambhir very well from his days in KKR, before 2017 and 2018, that should hold him in good stead.”
“The fact that he’s played a lot of cricket under Rohit, and to an extent, under Virat, should have been a good learning for him. It should have been a good internship for him, watching them, observing them, how they go about captaincy.
Normally, matches between India and Sri Lanka would be low-key affairs, but since both teams have new captains and coaches for the T20 International series, there is a sense of intrigue.
“That’s what makes this series very exciting I guess, because it’s the beginning of a new chapter in Indian cricket. We must say this because, especially in the T20 format, not just the coach is new, the captain is also new.
“We’re not going to be having Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja anymore in this particular format. So it opens up the opportunity for many of our youngsters to kind of take the legacy forward going ahead in the next T20 World Cup which is in India in 2026.
“So they have a good two years to kind of gel and set a platform, play a certain brand of cricket, and have a certain philosophy with which they will play this particular format. That is what makes this series very interesting, because this is where the foundation is going to be laid for that philosophy and vision,” concluded Sridhar.
