Having won the World Cup in June, India is getting ready to embark on a new chapter in T20 cricket with much expectation surrounding Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy in the three-match series against Sri Lanka that starts this Saturday in Pallekele.
R Sridhar, the former fielding coach for India, was present at Suryakumar’s debut in Twenty20 international cricket last year and believes he can lead through example due to his cool head and collected nature.
“From what I knew of him earlier days, when I used to be at the NCA (National Cricket Academy), where he used to come as an aggressive young boy who was very aggressive and very upbeat. And then now you look at him, he is so much more matured. He has become far more mellowed. Now he also thinks astutely about the game.”
“Well may be not have captained too many games for franchise cricket or even for India – led about eight matches. One of them was during one of the series between India and Australia where I did commentary for it and he’s done a fantastic job there. And then even in South Africa for a very short rain-curtailed series which he captained brilliantly.
“By the way Captaincy doesn’t mean only leading your team on the field. Captaincy is all about keeping your players well off it as well having those right talks with them and making sure that there are each and every player who is not just only into the squad but also outside of it on the fringe of making it to eleven they are also being put well off also taken care of.”
“So captaincy brings a lot more onto the table for Surya. Initially it will be tough but Surya is someone who will take fish water,” says Sridhar exclusively talking to IANS facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
It was his first taste of leadership when they named Suryakumar Mumbai’s captain for the 2014-15 domestic cricket season. However, it was a lean patch and gossip about his irascible temperament resulting into indiscipline probably meant that Suryakumar lost out on the Mumbai leadership role.
After he turned a new page in his life, especially when it came to obtaining that India cap, Mumbai restored Suryakumar as captain in 2019. For two years between 2019 and 2021, he would be at the helm of Mumbai through sixteen games in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s.
Sridhar thinks that Suryakumar has what it takes to be called India’s captain but he should focus on selecting best playing eleven and communicating well.
“He has the complete resources it takes to make an outstanding captain. Now that being a captain is a full time occupation, there is also more pressure because his talk now needs to be spot on. He should know which combination he needs. Definitely, he must merge with the new coach Gautam Gambhir who is equally straight and direct.”
For example, Sridhar said that playing for India under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as well as serving as Gambhir’s KKR vice-captain made Suryakumar better. “It’s a no brainer that since Surya was in KKR with Gautam Gambhir before 2017 and 2018, he should hold (on) tight.”
“The fact that Rohit played with him in many games and some under Virat, probably could have helped him learn more things from them. It should have been like an internship at school for him; just watching Rohit or Virat silently how they execute their captaincy.
Usually, matches between India and Sri Lanka would be dull affairs but in this case both teams have new captains and coaches for the Twenty20 International series hence there is suspense surrounding this match.” That is what I guess makes this series very exciting because it is the beginning of Indian cricket’s new chapter. And we ought to say so because particularly in T20 cricket you don’t only get a new coach but even the one leading us here will make her debut today.
“So we won’t see Kohli, Rohit Jadeja going forward in this particular format anymore. So all of our young people coming through now have almost opened that door up so widely right into the next T20 World Cup (which) will be held here in India (in 2026).
“They have almost two years where they can kind of come together and create a foundation block upon which they’ll play certain type of cricket with one philosophy of their own for this format. That’s what makes this series so interesting as this is where everything starts in terms of that philosophy and vision,” Sridhar concluded.
