'I am grateful' - Suryakumar Yadav opens up on shock captaincy snub following India's historic T20 World Cup triumph

Former India skipper Suryakumar Yadav has opened up about his captaincy snub, saying he is content and has learned to be grateful for everything that came his way before the selectors decided to move on from him.

Suryakumar enjoyed a stellar record as captain of India’s T20I team. He took over the reins after Rohit Sharma stepped away from T20Is following India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in the USA and Caribbean.

Under Suryakumar, India played 52 T20Is, winning 42 and losing only eight. Two matches were washed out. His win percentage stands at 84%. He did not lose a single series as captain and guided India to both the Men’s Asia Cup and T20 World Cup titles.

However, the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar decided to move on from him after an underwhelming IPL 2026 season, where Suryakumar managed only 270 runs in 13 matches at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54, including two fifties.

“They called me two or three days before the team was announced and said, ‘I think it’s time to move on. You saw what happened in the IPL.’ I didn’t react because it’s not my forte,” Suryakumar said on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel. “That’s not how Suryakumar Yadav has always been. Whatever call someone took, they must have thought it was for the betterment of the team going forward. It must be a good call; you took the call, you informed me, no problem, the man is ready. Whenever you feel the time is right, things are right, call me back.”

Suryakumar revealed that the decision left him dazed for weeks and uncertain about his cricketing future. His wife, Devisha Shetty, played a crucial role in helping him recover from the shock.

“Then for 40 or 50 days I was sitting at home doing nothing, completely shocked, thinking, ‘What should I do now? Should I play, should I not play, what should be done next?’ A lot was going through my mind. Suddenly, one day my wife said, ‘Just think about why you started playing this game 20 years ago when you were a 13- or 15-year-old... Because you were mad for this game; you had passion.’ I said, ‘Yes, definitely true.’ She said, ‘Then bring that passion back again.’ I said I have the passion to play cricket, but what is the road forward? You can’t see anything ahead; it’s all foggy, nothing makes sense,” he added.

The 35-year-old said his wife reminded him that he had already achieved far more than many who play international cricket for decades.

“So we went out for food, for a drive; she used to take me out for a drive, and she told me, ‘Just think about what has happened with you in the last five years. People play for 10 years, 15 years, 20 or 25 years, and they don’t get to achieve what you have achieved in the last five years.’ You play 5 World Cups in 5 or 6 years, 2 years as ICC Player of the Year in T20s, ICC No. 1 ranking, the 2024 T20 World Cup catch that completely changed your moment, winning the 2026 T20 World Cup for India as captain in India, what more do you want? Everything that people took so many years to achieve, you achieved in 5 years. So be grateful first,” Suryakumar added.

“I said, ‘Okay, I am grateful now, but the car will stop when we go home, when we go back to bed again, the same thoughts will keep running, what next, what next?’ But she told me, ‘Start going to the gym, start playing, play tennis ball, play rubber ball, spend time with friends, start all this, and slowly you will find that drive.’

“Two or three weeks back, that drive started. Looking at my daughter every day, it hit me that now I have to play for her. That drive came back, so I have started training, started batting in full flow again, exactly how I used to do. Now what the road ahead is, nobody knows. If they took this call right now, by the time two or three months pass, that call might change too; you never know. I have to be optimistic.

“So I am preparing with that thought that I have to play cricket, because I know how to play this format really well. I don’t want to talk about ODI cricket; I tried a lot, I didn’t understand it, or Tests, but this format, in which I have played a lot of cricket in the last 4-5 years, I want to play this format really well. After four years, you have to relax anyway. I am 35 right now; after 38 or 39 you can relax, but whatever 3 or 4 years are left, I want to play with the exact same passion that I have played with until today, with that same drive. So that is back again, that love is back, that drive is back, that focus, discipline, everything is back again, and I am on track,” Suryakumar concluded.