India, the reigning champions and co-hosts, will face a significant issue in the form of poor-performing captain Suryakumar Yadav when they take part in the forthcoming T20 World Cup 2026. The best batter in the shortest form, SKY, had a dismal previous year where he only made a total of 218 runs in 19 innings at a mediocre strike rate of 123.16.
On the same topic, ex-Australia captain Ponting provided the Indian player with some tips to assist him in getting past the slump before the ICC tournament.
In an ICC review, Ponting said, “He plays all his shots, and he is confident in himself, and it is similar to the case of Travis Head, where it seems that they never have the fear of getting out. I would recommend the same to him. I would say, think about runs, don’t think about getting out.”
Ponting further said, “Rely on yourself, and support yourself. You have proved that you are as good as the best in the world in T20, so go out and show it to everyone again.”
Sharp decline for Suryakumar Yadav
Once a much-praised player because of his 360 degree style, Suryakumar has been one of the top batsmen in the T20 format from his debut in 2021 to now. He is the leading run-scorer in the period from March 2021 to July 2024 with 2,432 runs coming at an average of 42.66 and strike rate of 168.65, and as a reward for this, he received the T20I cricketer of the year (2022 and 2023) awards consecutively. However, in the recent past, he has been looking like a pale imitation of his previous self.
His form after the T20 World Cup 2024 victory suffered a major slump, averaging at 16 with merely one fifty to his credit. Even for captaincy his performance was a drawback as his stats when he was not the captain are much better with 2040 runs at an average of 43.40, including 3 centuries and 17 half-centuries.
Suryakumar Yadav has also got the performances of his own strengths against him, as he has bee trying to play his winning shots, which has been the recent history and India will sure hope that one of their biggest T20 batsman retakes the throne before T20 World Cup 2026 starts.