"I didn’t speak to anyone" - Suryakumar Yadav reveals trauma after brutal Australia tour snub

India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has opened up about the tough emotional phase after being left out of the limited-overs squad for the Australia tour in 2020-21. The snub was unexpected and hit him hard, especially after performing consistently in domestic cricket and the IPL.

Suryakumar Yadav revealed that he had worked hard on both his fitness and mental health, even taking time during the Covid break to work and prepare really well for that season. So, the right-handed batter was expecting to be in the T20I squad but got the shocker at the end.

Suryakumar Yadav shares the untold story of his rise after the Australia tour snub

The Mumbai batter was mentally ready to fly to Australia, but he was not picked in the squad, which left him shocked and heartbroken. He revealed that his teammates, both at the Mumbai Indians and on the domestic team, were sure about his selection for the Australia tour, so that was a big shock for him.

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Suryakumar Yadav said on the Experience show on JioHotstar, “It was an emotional knock because just a few days before, the team for the Australia tour was announced. I had been building up for this over the past few years my domestic season and IPL were going really well.

Everyone around me, including teammates from other countries, thought I’d be flying to Australia. I was already on that flight, mentally. But when I wasn’t selected, it hit me hard. I couldn’t understand what went wrong.”

Suryakumar Yadav had to take a break to heal

The right-handed batter struggled to deal with the setback, so he had to take a few days off from training. He didn’t speak to anyone, staying away from the game to clear his mind. When he returned to practice, his MI teammates and support staff noticed that something was off.

Suryakumar added, “I started thinking in a reverse way; I thought about what and where it went wrong. For the next 2-3 days, I didn’t speak to anyone. I took a break and didn’t even practice. I knew my mind and heart were not in the right place, so I decided to relax instead. When I returned to the ground, people noticed I was off, and Mahela Jayawardene and Zaheer Khan could see it too.”

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But Suryakumar eventually turned the pain into motivation. Just days after the snub, he played a fiery knock of 79 runs off 43 balls for the Mumbai Indians against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Suryakumar Yadav reveals how he rewrote his journey

After missing out on that tour, he decided to reinvent his game to keep up with the evolving T20 format. Surya said that he used to bat at a strike rate of 140–150, but post-2020, he realized that he had to evolve, so he returned to the basics and began working on match simulations and started practicing shots that would help him stay ahead of bowlers and captains in the T20s.

Suryakumar signed off by saying, “From 2021 to 2024, I focused on exploiting specific areas, finding scoring options where I could also minimize the risk. Everything I do in matches now, I’ve already practiced. I try to replicate those sessions exactly.”