I was disappointed to lose captaincy, want to play for India again: Suryakumar Yadav

Former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has said that the hunger to play for India is still alive inside him as he slammed a breathtaking half-century on the opening day of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2026-27. Captaining Mumbai against Hyderabad, Suryakumar played a splendid innings, scoring an unbeaten 60 off 21 with the help of six fours and five sixes.

Courtesy of his knock, Mumbai chased down 173 with relative ease, winning the match by seven wickets and 41 balls to spare. Following his innings, Suryakumar reflected on his team India snub, revealing how he was expecting to play for the country after the IPL 2026 but was left disappointed as he lost his place.

"After winning the [T20] World Cup you naturally think that you will play in India's next series after the IPL. It's not easy to win an ICC event, especially at home, which nobody has done in the past. It felt great to win that tournament. But the selectors must have thought of something to decide [to change captaincy]. But I was definitely disappointed. If you're not sad after such things how will you turn it into passion?,” Suryakumar said after the game in Kolkata.

Suryakumar further mentioned that the hunger to play for India is back  and he’s ready to knock down selectors’ door to storm his way back into the team.

“The same hunger that I had to play for India is back now. I want to play for the country again, so I have to knock down the [selectors'] door. My intent is clear - to make a comeback. When you have that target in mind to play for India, you work in one direction and bat in a disciplined way. I have worked on a lot of things, from my mental game to the skills,” he added.

Suryakumar returns to form ahead of IPL retention deadline

Suryakumar brought up his half-century off just 15 balls and stitched a crucial 65-run partnership off 23 balls with Musheer Khan (51 off 24). Suryakumar had been enduring poor form over the past two years and didn’t have a great IPL season in 2026, scoring 270 runs from 13 innings at an average of 20.76. 

The half-century comes at a crucial time for the right-handed batter, with the IPL 2027 retention deadline also set for November 17, 2026.