With the retirement of Rohit Sharma from T20Is after India won the T20 World Cup, one of Gautam Gambhir’s immediate tasks was to finalise a T20I skipper to take over the reins. Hardik Pandya, the vice-captain of the Indian team during the event, who would often step in as leader in the absence of Rohit, was expected to be the next captain but now, Yadav has taken over instead.
Has Suryakumar Yadav captained in international cricket before?
Yadav was first named the skipper of the Indian team during the Australia T20I series following the 2023 ODI World Cup when several regulars were given a break. India won the five-match series 4-1, following which Yadav was also asked to lead the T20I team that would tour South Africa. The series ended 1-1, with one game ending in no result.
Overall, Yadav has led India in eight international games, all T20Is, winning five and losing two with one match getting washed out.
With no clear captaincy successor across formats, the next few seasons are critical for the Indian team. Planning a smooth succession is vital but challenging for the BCCI given the numerous variables and options.@CoverDrivenFor4 shares his opinions: https://t.co/MhdIn1fia2 pic.twitter.com/PPMlMW3SoU
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 16, 2024
Vice-captaincy in the IPL
Yadav has worked with the new head coach of the Indian team Gambhir in the past when both were associated with the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. Gambhir, who was the captain of the franchise since 2011, played a big role in bringing Yadav into the team in 2014.
A year later, Yadav was named the vice-captain of the side, where he left his mark batting as a finisher. In KKR, Yadav made 684 runs at an average of 23.58 and a strike rate of 135.71. He has now become arguably India’s greatest T20I batter but Gambhir has been vocal about his regret in not utilising him well in the team. “A leader’s role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team, we never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential.”
He has led in one IPL match, in 2023 for Mumbai Indians, against his former side KKR.
Captaincy experience in domestic cricket
Yadav was first named the captain of the Mumbai Under-19 team during the 2009/10 Cooch Behar Trophy before progressing to leading the Under-22 side in the CK Nayudu Tournament for the next two seasons.
He was also the captain when England played a warm-up game against Mumbai A ahead of their Test series in 2012. The right-hander led the Indian team in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in 2013, leading them to the title. In the final, India defeated a Pakistan team comprising Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, by nine wickets.
His first foray into captaining the senior men’s domestic team was in 2014 when he led Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Next year, along with leading in the 50-over tournament, he was also named the captain of the Ranji Trophy team.
Yadav led Mumbai in just one game, in the Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh, from 2015 till 2019, when he was appointed the skipper of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and then the Ranji Trophy.
Overall, Yadav has led in 24 T20 games across domestic and international cricket, winning 16 of those. In first-class cricket, his team has won two out of ten games, and in List A, Yadav's team has won 8 out of 14 matches.
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