There is life in the old dog yet! Suryakumar Yadav proved that just a day after losing his T20I captaincy and a place in the Indian team.
On Saturday evening, Surya and Shreyas Iyer, the man who replaced him as India T20I captain on Friday, were facing each other in the Mumbai T20 league. Surya was playing for Triumph Knights while Iyer was representing SoBo Mumbai Falcons.
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Surya, it appears, was out there to make a point. He made 48 runs off just 24 balls, and some of the shots he played were simply breathtaking. The Surya of old was on display, to all intents and purposes. For the third-wicket 50-plus partnership with Nutan, he did the bulk of the scoring. He well and truly deserved a fifty; however, it wasn’t to be.
Surya has shown great character, with his decision to play just hours after his international career came crashing down. On Friday, the BCCI announced that Iyer, winner of one IPL title with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and runner-up with Punjab Kings in 2025, was the new T20I captain for Team India. When India tour Ireland and England in June-July, he will be at the helm. He will be leading the team in the Asian Games later in the year too.
The ruthless call for sure!
The sacking of Surya surprised many. He was expected to be given one more chance, but chief selector Ajit Agarkar had other ideas. Almost three months ago, Surya had led the Indian team to their third T20 World Cup title.
However, if truth be told, SKY had been struggling with the bat long before that, but, since in 2024 he had been made captain with the 2026 T20 World Cup in mind, he was given one chance after another despite not having any real runs to show for. He may have still survived, had he done well in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians, but he could only come up with 270 runs in 13 games at an average of 20.77 and a strike rate of 147.54.
Anyway, Surya’s return to action just a day after the sacking shows he has not given up on his India aspirations just yet. If he keeps on scoring big runs this season in domestic cricket, he can certainly return to the national team as a player, if not as a captain.