Team India Captain Suryakumar Yadav was reminded recently of a statement made by the new head coach Gautam Gambhir during a pre-match press conference prior to the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Gambhir, reminiscing about their time at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ten years ago, regretfully acknowledged that he had underutilized Suryakumar’s abilities.
To this remark, Suryakumar humorously replied that it could be expanded even further now.
In this connection, Gambhir had observed that at that time team combinations did not allow him to play Suryakumar as number 3 which is something he regrets today. In IPL, from 2014-2017 Suryakumar played for KKR captained by Gambhir before moving to Mumbai Indians. “A leader’s biggest role is to bring out the best in a player. In my seven-year captaincy stint, if there is one regret that I have, it is the fact that we couldn’t utilize the full potential of Surya. There were many reasons for it – the combination, etc. But you can only play one batter at No 3. As a leader you think about the other 10 players as well,” said Gambhir during an interview with Sportskeeda.
“Even though be effective has been very effective at No7 but if you see if he batted somewhere around No 3 it would have been much better for him,” he added.
Upon hearing these comments, Suryakumar jokingly reacted “toh abhi kar lenge pura potential ko use (He will utilise his full potentials).”
He lauded Gautam for his comprehension and disclosed certain details of their great bond as coach-player relationship.
“But sometimes I don’t even say anything and he understands what I want. So this bond is very special between coach and captain. So it’s pretty much excited for the journey ahead,” said Suryakumar.
Currently captaining the T20I side in Sri Lanka at 33, Suryakumar has again linked up with his former KKR skipper now Indian men’s team head coach Gambhir. Since making his debut for India in 2021, Suryakumar has established himself as one of the top T20I batters in the world.
In 68 matches, Suryakumar has scored 2340 runs at an average of 43.33 and a strike rate of 167.74 with four hundreds and nineteen fifties.
Watch Gambhir’s old statement: Suryakumar Yadav की बैटिंग देख क्या बोले Gautam Gambhir? KKR | Team India.
