Will Suryakumar Yadav be able to change the story of failure of the last 8 matches?Image Credit source: PTI
Will Abhishek Sharma play or not? Who should be given a chance between Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar? When should Jasprit Bumrah be given bowling? How will Indian batsmen deal with Usman Tariq? Indian experts and fans are continuously discussing these questions and issues before the T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan. The right coordination of all these can lead to victory for Team India. But there is also a reality that if the Indian team wants to win then captain Suryakumar Yadav will have to do something great.
Before the start of the T20 World Cup, the Indian team played a T20 series against New Zealand. Before that series, the form of Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was constantly under question for the last 14 months. Forget scoring a half-century, he was not even able to score runs freely. He was losing wickets on fine leg shots on which he sent the ball across the boundary. In such a situation, there was a demand to exclude him from the World Cup.
But in the last one month or so, Suryakumar has silenced all these voices and has returned to his old rhythm. Even in the first match against America, it was his innings which saved the team from upset. Despite this, it is becoming difficult to fully trust the Indian captain before the India-Pakistan match and the reason is Suryakumar Yadav’s record against Pakistan.
Leaving aside last year, Suryakumar Yadav has been the best batsman in T20 International for 4 consecutive years since his debut in 2021. He made every team his target but even during this time his bat never used against Pakistan. In his career, Surya has played a total of 8 T20 matches against this team and has been able to score only 112 runs. He has not scored a single half-century.
Not only this, during this period he has been out 7 times, out of which Pakistani fast bowlers have sent him back to the pavilion 6 times. In these also, fast bowler Haris Rauf has taken the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav thrice. However, this time Rauf is not playing but despite this Pakistan has options like Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. Also this time the threat of spinners will remain.
However, despite such a record, Team India had won 6 of these matches. But this time captain Suryakumar Yadav himself will have to come forward and take charge against Pakistan and make changes in these figures. If this happens then Team India will continue its winning streak in the World Cup and India’s score against Pakistan will become 8-1.
