Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav dominated men’s T20I cricket early in his career but in recent times, he has seen a poor phase in his career spanning over 14 months. The batsman has missed a half-century in over 20 matches and has finally admitted his poor form but also assured that he will come back stronger.
India won the T20 series against South Africa by a 3-1 margin, but there are some major points of concern that the defending champions need to rectify ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, which India will host from February 7.
A big issue for the Indian team has been the poor form of their captain Suryakumar Yadav. The Indian T20I legend was once considered one of the most highly rated players in the shortest format of the game.
“Probably the only thing we couldn’t manage was finding Surya to bat,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
The 35-year-old was once considered one of the greatest players of all time in the shortest format of the game; However, he has averaged less than 14 in 2025 and this is the darkest chapter of his career.
After winning the fifth and final T20I against South Africa, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted his shortcomings as a batsman and also vowed to make a strong comeback in the format.
“Probably the only thing we couldn’t manage was finding Surya to bat, I think he disappeared somewhere! (smiling) but he will come back stronger. As a team, I’m really happy,” Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation.
“Whenever we were in trouble, someone always raised their hand and got us out. The way this series went for us as captains is very satisfying,” he said.
“We wanted that relentless intent and it worked beautifully tonight,” said the satisfied Indian captain.
The final T20I showed the real potential of the Indian batting line-up with the bat, especially as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma got them off to a flying start, and a brilliant effort from Tilak Verma set the stage for Hardik Pandya to give India a solid finish.
The Indian captain said that his team wanted to play a particular brand of game and he was very happy with the kind of cricket they played against South Africa.
“Yes, I mean, from the beginning of the tournament, we wanted to play a certain brand of cricket. I’m glad we did exactly that. We didn’t try to do anything different. We wanted to express ourselves in all departments, and the results are there for all to see,” the Indian captain said.
He also said that this is something that the Indian team has been missing in the last few series. This is exactly how he wanted to bat. India wanted some relentless intent, and the way it worked in the final game pleased the Indian captain.
After T20 World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav will have to lose T20 captaincy.
The Indian captain is 35 years old and his form has been poor in the last 14 months, while Suryakumar Yadav’s best innings was 47 runs against Pakistan. After playing in 22 matches, he managed to score only 218 runs, while he finished the South Africa home series with only 34 runs.
The right-handed batsman scored at an average of less than 14 and a strike rate of 117.87. With so much concern about his form, he is a part of the playing eleven only because he is the captain of the Indian team. Now after the end of India’s World Cup campaign, he may have to lose the captaincy.
However, whenever Suryakumar Yadav has been relieved of the responsibility of captaincy, he has shown glimpses of great form in the IPL as well as in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Also read: Brisbane Heat achieved the biggest run chase in BBL history, chasing 258 runs on the back of centuries from Renshaw and Wildermuth.