For the first time since being dropped from India’s T20I team, Suryakumar Yadav has opened up on how he processed the emotions of the sacking and what conversations he had with the selectors.
Suryakumar suffered a fate that was unprecedented in Indian cricket: being removed as captain and dropped from the team right after leading the nation to an ICC trophy.
Fondly called ‘SKY’ and hailed as India’s pioneering T20 batsman with an exquisite 360-degree range, Suryakumar had an impeccable record as India’s T20I skipper.
Under Suryakumar, India won 42 T20I matches and lost only eight, won the Asia Cup 2025 without losing a single game, lifted the T20 World Cup 2026, and didn’t lose a single series in the two-year period between the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cups.
His axing, though, came because of his underwhelming form with the bat since 2025, and more so, he had poor returns after the opening game of the T20 World Cup against the USA. He had a forgettable IPL 2026 season, where he averaged only 20, and that was the final nail in the coffin for his continuation with the Indian T20I team.
Suryakumar Yadav Speaks On Being Sacked From India T20I Team
Suryakumar told Aakash Chopra on the latter’s YouTube channel,
“They (selectors) called me two-three days before the team was announced. They said, ‘I think it’s time to move on. How’s it going? You saw what happened in IPL.’ I didn’t react because it’s not my forte. Whatever call was taken, the person must’ve felt it’s in “the best interest of the team. You took the call, informed me, no harm done.”
“When everything is going well, then why the change?” Suryakumar Yadav expresses disappointment as axing
Suryakumar was replaced as the T20I captain by his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer.
“The guy (Iyer) they’ve picked, I have played a lot of cricket with him. I know he’s a good player, a good human being, good captain also. So, I didn’t resent the decision but was disappointed because we didn’t lose a series for two years, won Asia Cup, T20 World Cup – you want the same thing to go forward. When everything is going well, then why the change?” the former captain added.
Suryakumar opened his heart out and expressed how difficult it has been for him over the past few months to come to terms with the selectors’ decision to remove him as the captain and also as a batsman.
“For one-and-a-half months I kept thinking, how can this happen? How is it possible? We just won the World Cup. Yes, IPL wasn’t as good as how I wanted,” Suryakumar said.
The 35-year-old revealed that he believed he would be leading the Indian team at the 2028 T20 World Cup and the LA Olympics that year.
“I didn’t think this would happen in 2026. I was under the impression that I am preparing to take this team forward for another two years – Olympics, another T20 World Cup, and then another challenge going forward,” SKY said.
A return for Suryakumar to the T20I team is unlikely. With Shreyas Iyer now the captain and Rajat Patidar waiting in the wings, even strong domestic and IPL performances in the coming seasons may not be enough for SKY to get a recall.
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