Suryakumar Yadav a better captain than Rohit Sharma? Ricky Ponting hails India’s T20I skipper
Published - 15 Mar 2026, 10:28 AM | Updated - 15 Mar 2026, 10:29 AM
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Suryakumar Yadav’s individual performance remains under the scanner mostly because of his batting stats. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2026, too, where Team India was crowned as the champions, Yadav’s form was far from his best.
Despite the subpar batting performance, Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy has been speaking for itself. Yadav might not have done too much with the bat, but he guided the team to glory with his leadership qualities on home soil.
Suryakumar Yadav’s batting form gradually declined as soon as he took on the leadership duty
Yadav's growth in the international cricket circuit was rapid. He was assigned as the leader of the T20I team, only after spending about 5 years as a batter. As a batter, before donning the captain’s armband, the Mumbai-born’s batting average was 43.40, while as the captain, it is currently 28.65.
Suryakumar Yadav’s batting T20I stats as an only batter vs as a captain:
Role | Number of Matches | Runs | Batting Average | Strike Rate | Highest Score |
As captain | 52 | 1232 | 28.65 | 154.96 | 100 |
As a regular batter | 61 | 2040 | 43.40 | 168.17 | 117 |
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting decoded Suryakumar Yadav's influence behind India's success
With the decreasing stats, how did he help the team lift the T20 World Cup? Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting tried to decode the method Suryakumar might have followed.
Ponting explained that Yadav’s credibility is beyond the on-field stats. As a captain, he had to do a lot behind the scenes, in the dressing room, which cricket fans did not see.
“It's about a lot more than what they do off the field, the things that people don't see and how they interact with their players. He didn’t have a great time himself as a player, but still he’s standing at the end holding up a World Cup trophy,” Ponting explained while speaking on the ICC Review.
As a former captain, Ricky Ponting can easily assume how much pressure on Yadav’s shoulder when he was not scoring runs in the World Cup. SKY had decent outings in the tournament, scoring 242 runs across the campaign.
“I know as a former captain, when you’re not batting at your absolute best, captaincy can become really difficult. And when you are batting well, captaincy can become really easy,”
Ponting pointed out Suryakumar Yadav's man-management skills off the field
One of the key highlights of India’s triumphant 2026 World Cup was some individual brilliance at high moments. Players like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are seasoned campaigners, and they often try to do their best. But Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, who are highly talented but struggled in most parts of the tournament, showed their best when the team needed them the most. A captain’s job is to pull the best out of every individual player. Suryakumar might have done that well.
“It would have been really interesting to see how Surya has interacted with Abhishek (Sharma) and Sanju (Samson) over the last few weeks. That’s where the real stories will come out on true leadership,” Ricky Ponting pointed out.
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Suryakumar Yadav Ricky Ponting India National Cricket Team Australia National Cricket Team ICC T20 World CupAbout the Author
This author is a member of Cricketaddictor who writes news and analysis related to cricket.
