Former India captain Suryakumar rues T20 omission after World Cup success

Former India captain Suryakumar Yadav said he was disappointed at being dropped from the national T20 side months after leading India to a successful defence of their men’s T20 World Cup title.

The 35-year-old took charge in 2024, guiding India to 42 wins in 50 completed T20 internationals and helping them become the first team to retain the men’s T20 World Cup crown.

The final victory over New Zealand in March was his last T20 appearance for India and he was replaced as captain by Shreyas Iyer.

“The guy they’ve picked, I have played a lot of cricket with him. I know he’s a good player, good human being, good captain also,” Suryakumar said on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube show.

“So, I didn’t resent the decision but was disappointed because we didn’t lose a series for two years, won Asia Cup, T20 World Cup - you want the same thing to go forward.

“When everything is going well, then why the change?”

India lost their first T20 series to Ireland in June and were thrashed 4-0 by England under Iyer, with a 3-0 victory over Zimbabwe their lone series win since lifting the World Cup.

Suryakumar scored only 242 runs in nine World Cup matches at an average of 30.25 after struggling in the lead-up to the tournament.

He managed only 270 runs for Mumbai Indians in this year’s Indian Premier League.

“For one-and-a-half months I kept thinking, how can this happen? How is it possible? We just won the World Cup. Yes, IPL wasn’t as good as how I wanted,” he said.

India are due to play three one-day internationals and five T20 matches against West Indies from September 27, with the squad yet to be announced.