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.
Source: Khaleej Times