New Delhi, July 25 As India prepares to enter a new era in T20 cricket following their World Cup triumph in June, there is a profound sense of anticipation regarding Suryakumar Yadav’s role as captain in the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka at Pallekele, set to begin on Saturday.
R Sridhar, who served as India’s fielding coach and witnessed Suryakumar’s entry into T20I cricket in 2021, is confident that the batter’s composed demeanor and level-headedness will make him an excellent captain.
"Surya has matured a lot from what I know of him from the earlier days, when I was at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), where he used to come as a young athlete, who was very aggressive and very upbeat. But now, if you see, he’s much more mature. He’s got a much more mellowed head on his shoulders, and he’s an astute thinker of the game.”
"I mean, he might not have led many matches over franchise cricket, or even for India - he’s led about eight games. I remember doing commentary in one of the India-Australia series, where he did a tremendous job. He also did a fabulous job in South Africa in the very short rain-curtailed series which he captained.
"Mind you, captaincy is not only about leading the team on the field. Captaincy is all about keeping your players in good space, even off the field, having those right conversations with them, and making sure that each and every player, who’s not just only in the squad, but also outside the squad, on the fringe of making it to the eleven, they’re also in good space, and they’re also well taken care of.
"So captaincy brings a lot more onto the table for Surya. It is going to be challenging initially, but I think Surya is someone who’ll take to it like fish to water,” says Sridhar in an exclusive conversation with IANS, facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
Suryakumar experienced his first taste of captaincy in the 2014-15 domestic cricket season when he was appointed as Mumbai’s captain. But it turned out to be an underwhelming time and reports about his hot-headed avatar leading to indiscipline meant Suryakumar lost out on the leadership role at Mumbai.
In 2019, Suryakumar, who had become calm and mellow, flicked a switch in his life, particularly in all matters related to earning that India cap, and Mumbai reinstated him as skipper. He would go on to lead Mumbai in 16 T20 games in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy from 2019 to 2021.
Sridhar believes Suryakumar has what it takes to excel as a captain for India, but he must focus on effective communication and choosing the right playing eleven.
“He's got all the wherewithal to be a successful captain. But now that the captaincy is a full-time thing, with that comes more pressure, because his communication has to be more spot on. He needs to know what combination he needs. Obviously, he needs to gel with the new coach, Gautam Gambhir, who is also a no-nonsense person.”
According to Sridhar, serving as vice-captain to Gambhir at the Kolkata Knight Riders was beneficial for Suryakumar, as as playing under Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the national side. “The fact that Surya knows Gautam Gambhir very well from his days in KKR, before 2017 and 2018, that should hold him in good stead.”
"The fact that he’s played a lot of cricket under Rohit, and to an extent, under Virat, should have been a good learning for him. It should have been a good internship for him, watching them, observing them, how they go about captaincy.
The India-Sri Lanka match-ups would generally be low-key affairs, but with both teams having new captains and coaches for the T20I series, sense of intrigue is in the air. “That’s what makes this series very exciting I guess, because it’s the beginning of a new chapter in Indian cricket. We must say this because, especially in the T20 format, not just the coach is new, the captain is (also) new.
"We’re not going to be having Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja anymore in this particular format. So it opens up the opportunity for many of our intern youngsters to kind of take the legacy forward going ahead in the next T20 World Cup (which) is in India (in 2026).
"So they have a good two years to kind of gel and set a platform, play a certain brand of cricket, and have a certain philosophy with which they will play this particular format. That is what makes this series very interesting, because this is where the foundation is going to be laid for that philosophy and vision,” concluded Sridhar.
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