Ravichandran Ashwin opposes Gautam Gambhir's T20 philosophy, warns Suryakumar Yadav before World Cup

India National Cricket Team spin-bowling great Ravichandran Ashwin has openly opposed the T20 philosophy of the head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav.

Ravichandran Ashwin stated that the overly flexible batting order of the Indian T20I team should be fixed, and the batters need to be given permanent positions to bat on.

Suryakumar Yadav - a dominant captain

The India National Cricket Team have been on a roll in T20I cricket for a very long period of time, and their dominance has gone to the next level since winning the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

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Following Rohit Sharma's retirement, Suryakumar Yadav was handed the captaincy, and he has led the team exceptionally well and even steered them to the Asia Cup 2025 win.

Overall, he has led the team in 34 T20I matches and won 25 out of them, while losing just 5. He has an exceptional win percentage of 73.52 and i yet to lose a series.

However, since becoming captain, his numbers as a batter have been very poor. He has scored just 714 runs at a poor average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 154.54.

One thing that might have contributed to his poor numbers is his batting position, as he has shuffled up and down the order to accommodate his teammates.

The current philosophy of the Indian T20 team is that the openers are the only players with a permanent spot in the batting order, while the rest of the batters have to remain flexible.

I also think Surya is a very open, open-minded character - Ravichandran Ashwin

Speaking in a joint YouTube video with AB de Villiers, Ravichandran Ashwin said that Suryakumar Yadav should strictly stop the practice of shuffling up and down the order. Ravichandran Ashwin stated:

"I also think Surya is a very open, open-minded character who can do a lot of good work for the team. Quite selfless, was willing to give up, give up his own spot to be able to accommodate others in the batting order, which is something I would hate to see going forward leading up into the World Cup.”

"That Indian team is an extremely strong and intimidating Indian side which, let alone being played with a lot of freedom, could inflict a lot of damage in that tournament. So the last thing I want to see is shuffling of batting orders and people not knowing where exactly they will enter into a particular game. It is something I want to see avoided over the next few months,” Ravichandran Ashwin added.

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I think we have more of an opportunity in ODIs - AB de Villiers

During the same conversation, AB de Villiers stated that South Africa will be very competitive in the upcoming ODI and T20I series against India and can even dominate in 50-over games. He stated:

“I think South Africa will be competitive in both the series. I don't think we will get whitewashed in both. I think the strongest suit of Indian cricket right now is white-ball cricket.

"I think we have more of an opportunity in ODIs. T20s, anything can happen, but Team India looks stronger, there is no doubt about it. And obviously we have the memory of that World Cup in the West Indies where India won that final against us. Maybe that will be enough to sort of urge South Africa on to try and cross the line, but unlikely in T20s. I think in the ODI, South Africa has got a really good chance of winning.”