Suryakumar Yadav Failure PtiImage Credit source: PTI
T20 World Cup 2026 is barely 2 months away but before that, Team India seems to be in big trouble. In this World Cup, the Indian team will enter as defending champion and will hope to defend the title in front of its home fans. But before that, the form of its captain Suryakumar Yadav has become a cause of concern for Team India. Suryakumar failed miserably in the very first match of the T20 series against South Africa, which surprised everyone. Suryakumar Yadav’s recent performance is raising questions not only about his captaincy but also about his place in the team.
The T20 series between India and South Africa started on Tuesday 9 December at the Barabati Cricket Stadium in Cuttack. But in the first match itself, Team India’s top order collapsed. Shubman Gill, who returned to the team, was out in the very first over, after which captain Suryakumar Yadav came to the crease. There was no big innings from Surya’s bat in this entire year but after his performance in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, there was hope of his return to form.
After the early fall of the first wicket, a big innings was expected from Captain Surya but he was seen struggling as soon as he came to the crease. Shots were not coming from his bat and he could score only 2 runs in the first 8 balls. But after this, he hit a four and a six in consecutive balls of Lungi Ngidi in the third over. It seemed that today his bat would speak well but he got caught on the very next ball and then got out cheaply and returned to the pavilion. He could score only 12 runs in 11 balls.
But this is not the first time that Suryakumar Yadav has been out cheaply this year, but in 2025, his bat has not been able to perform at all and he has not been able to score even a single half-century. This year, Indian captain Suryakumar has scored only 196 runs in 18 T20 matches, in which his average has been 15.07. His strike rate has also been only 126 and he has been able to score more than 25 runs in only 2 innings throughout the year. Not only this, Suryakumar Yadav’s average is the worst of any Indian captain in T20 International in a year. Before him, this record was in the name of MS Dhoni, who had scored only 23 runs in T20 International as captain in 2009.