Former skipper Suryakumar admits India snub after winning T20 World Cup 2026 was 'very difficult'

Former India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who has lost his captaincy and place in the side, admitted that the period after the T20 World Cup 2026 has been difficult. SKY, as he is fondly called, lost his place and captaincy despite taking India to T20 World Cup glory at home in March earlier this year. He has since played only in the IPL and was not even selected for Mumbai's Ranji Trophy squad because of a lack of preparation for red-ball games. He has been, however, named Mumbai captain for the domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which starts on November 14.

SKY ready to bounce back from India snub

"Post the T20 World Cup, it has been a little difficult," SKY acknowledged at an MCA event in Mumbai on Tuesday (Nov 10). "I don't want to run away from the fact: if you're not honest with yourself, it's very difficult to lead a happy life. To be very honest, it has been very difficult. The first two months after the IPL were difficult, but then I thought, why not think about how I was before - how I started my cricket, when I used to think I wanted to play age-group cricket for Mumbai, I wanted to play first-class cricket for Mumbai." he said.

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What next for SKY?

With the Mumbai Indians reportedly trading Hardik Pandya, SKY is definitely one of the contenders to lead the side in IPL 2027. The batter, however, isn't thinking too far ahead and is focused on what he "did 10-15 years ago - training again, following the same passion, same love for this game and everything is back to normal. When you start thinking about it, and you're focused on playing the sport, you want to do well for your team and your family; things change completely. And that's what I'm doing right now. The main goal is what I used to think before - to win the championship for Mumbai."

Mumbai play all their SMAT matches in Kolkata and are strong favorites to win the tournament.