Star Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav is all set to lead the Indian cricket team for the first time when a young team under him will take on Australia in the first T20I of a five-match series that begins in Vizag on Thursday. It has only been three days since the ODI World Cup 2023 final, where the Indian side suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Australia, but a lot has happened already for SKY, with him being named as the captain for the 3 T20Is against Australia at home.
Suryakumar Yadav Will Lead Team India Against Australia
While the senior players have been rested for the upcoming series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav will lead a new-look team featuring youngsters.
Ahead of the series opener, addressing a press conference Suryakumar Yadav talked about the heartbreaking defeat in the ODI World Cup Final and said that it will take time to move on from that. He said:
“It is difficult. It is difficult, it will take time”
He added: “It can’t be that you get up next morning and you forget everything that happened. It was a long tournament and obviously we would have loved to win.
“But then as you say, we get up in the morning, there is always sunrise again, light at the end of the tunnel. You have to forget it, move on. It is a fresh team, new boys, great energy. So we are really looking forward to this T20 series.”
The Indian squad consists of stars who bagged the Gold medal at the Asian Games and the captain from the tournament, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will act as vice-captain to Suryakumar in the first 3 games of the series against Australia.
Further, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that he is pretty clear about the approach he wants the team to take. He said that he has asked his team to be selfless on to the field. He said:
“The first thing I wanted to say was, let’s be very selfless when you go onto the field because I am a guy who doesn’t think too much about the personal milestone instead of team’s goal.
“And I have always told them that you have to keep the team first and then whatever comes after that, you can take your call. And I have played with them a lot of times during IPL and a few India games as well. So they know how I function.”
He added: “A lot of these youngsters played in the Ireland T20s, they went to the Asian Games, they did well in both those formats.”
Suryakumar stressed that he wanted fearless cricket from the bunch of youngsters. He said:
“Very clear, just be fearless and do whatever it takes to help the team. And they have been doing that in the IPL, they have played a lot of domestic cricket as well recently.
“So they are in good nick, which I heard from our support staff. And I have told them only one thing, just enjoy your time in the middle, do the same thing, don’t do anything different at the end of the day, just a game of cricket.”
🗣️ My message to the players is very clear – just be fearless and do whatever it takes to help the team 👌👌#TeamIndia Captain @surya_14kumar ahead of the 1st T20I against Australia.@IDFCFIRSTBank | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/jmjqqdcZBi
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 22, 2023
Did Suryakumar Take A Dig At Virat Kohli?
Well, Surya has been facing a wave of criticism from fans following the presser where he mentioned that the team will carry forward with Rohit Sharma’s brand of cricket. There were many who felt that the Indian batter had taken a dig at Kohli. However, that is not true, he was only talking about the approach that the players will adapt under him.
