Suryakumar Yadav To Lead India In T20 World Cup 2024? Aakash Chopra Responds

Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Aakash Chopra has said that he doesn’t see the No.1 ranked T20I batsman Suryakumar Yadav leading India in the T20 World Cup 2024.

Suryakumar Yadav was handed the leadership responsibility for the recently concluded five-match T20I series against Australia National Cricket Team. He did a wonderful job as a skipper and guided his team to a 4-1 victory in the series.

Notably, Suryakumar Yadav was appointed as captain because Hardik Pandya had been ruled out of the action for a long period. Also, reports suggested that Rohit Sharma was set to return as T20I captain for the South Africa series, but it didn’t happen as he asked for the rest for the white-ball leg of the tour. So, Suryakumar Yadav was once again named skipper for South Africa T20Is.

Speaking on JioCinema, Aakash Chopra was asked to share his views on Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy. The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that he doesn’t see Suryakumar as the long-term captaincy option for India in T20Is. He added that the middle-order batsman is not even the second-choice captain of Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He asserted:

“I am just looking ahead. Suryakumar Yadav is currently the Indian team’s captain in T20Is, but is he in your list of captains? He is probably the third captaincy choice even for the Mumbai Indians currently. Things have changed. He was the second choice until last year.”

World Cup 2024, I don’t see Surya as a captain – Aakash Chopra

Chopra added that Suryakumar can also lead India in the Afghanistan T20Is at home after his captaincy stint in the South Africa tour, but he won’t captain India in the T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and the USA. He said:

“He might have become the third choice of his franchise. He will be the Indian captain in South Africa for sure, will captain whenever Rohit doesn’t play and might be the captain against Afghanistan, but World Cup 2024, I don’t see Surya as a captain.”

Aakash Chopra further spoke about Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy in the T20I series against Australia and said that the decision not to use a 6th bowling option might have been made collectively by the team management. He stated:

“You are not using a sixth bowler, it can’t be his choice only. VVS Laxman and Sairaj Bahutule would also have had their inputs there, that they don’t want a sixth bowler to bowl. Even Rahul Dravid might be coordinating over the phone.

“He used the resources well despite not using a sixth bowler. Spin had an extremely important role. The make or break in the series was the eight, eight overs of spin over five games. The 40 overs of spin won you the series. It’s a difficult job to figure out when to bowl 40 overs of spin.”