‘How can this happen?’: Suryakumar Yadav opens up on India snub after T20 World Cup triumph
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘How can this happen?’: Suryakumar Yadav opens up on India snub after T20 World Cup triumph")
‘How can this happen’ Suryakumar Yadav opens up on India snub Photograph: (AFP)
Former India captain Suryakumar Yadav opened up to Aakash Chopra about his shock omission from the T20I squad after leading India to a World Cup victory.
A two-time T20 World Cup winner and former India captain, Suryakumar Yadav, has opened up on the shocking snub he faced after leading the Men in Blue to a triumphant campaign this year. From helping India end its ICC trophy drought in 2024 with the ‘catch of the tournament’ against South Africa, to maintaining an undefeated streak in the 2026 edition, Suryakumar Yadav made headlines for all the right reasons.
However, what didn’t work in his favour was his lean patch with the bat in the lead-up to the tournament and even during it, barring his unbeaten 84 against the US. A below-par IPL 2026 showing for Mumbai Indians further cast doubts over his T20I future despite his credentials, as the selectors took the toughest call to replace him as the team captain and drop him from the squad for the UK tour. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee named Shreyas Iyer as India's new T20I captain.
Revealing his reaction for the first time since facing an unexpected snub, SKY said, “I was thinking, how can this happen? How is it possible? We just won the World Cup. Yes, IPL was not as good as how I wanted. We were sitting at home. Friends came; family came. Everyone said that it's okay. Part of life. But then, when they leave the house. We stay alone at home.”
Reflecting on his first reaction after knowing that his name was missing from the T20I squad for the UK tour, Suryakumar said he couldn’t help but smile and leave it that way.
“I smiled when my name was not there. Because when I played cricket with the team for a year or two, and whenever I am playing, so, whenever I have been in situations like where there is pressure, where things are not going my way, I have always smiled. I have relaxed. And this is what I have seen: the moments in the past when I have had opportunities to do well. I have been grateful,” the former ranked number one T20I batter said in an online chat with Aakash Chopra.
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No Friction with Shreyas Iyer
Having shared a dressing room and a brief time playing for India, SKY knows who Shreyas Iyer is. SKY said he knows how good a player Iyer is, and never felt, ‘Why did they make him the captain?’ Suryakumar, however, expressed his disappointment at how, after never conceding a bilateral T20I series, winning an Asia Cup and eventually the T20 WC, he was left out.
“I have seen the team that they have chosen. I have also played a lot of cricket with Shreyas. And I know he is a good player, a good human being, and a good captain also. So, I was not like, ‘Why did they make him the captain?’ But yes, I was a little disappointed. Because you have not lost a single series in two years. You have won the World Cup and the Asia Cup. Then you want the same thing to go forward. Because when everything is going well, then why? What is the reason for the change? What is the reason for the change? It was going on in my mind. I was sitting at home for a month and a half,” said SKY.
