R Ashwin has admitted he is “a little apprehensive” about the decision to drop Suryakumar Yadav only weeks after the batter captained India to the T20 World Cup title. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s video show, the off-spinner suggested the move could shape future selection calls.
Key facts first.
• Suryakumar, India’s stand-in captain at the World Cup, scored 242 runs at 136.72.
• His IPL that followed was equally muted: 270 runs at 147.54.
• Despite that, India lifted the trophy under his leadership.
• Two months on, he is out of the T20I squad entirely.
• Shreyas Iyer, who has not played a T20I for more than two years, has been named captain.
“Look, I think it’s a very interesting precedent,” Ashwin said. “I just want to put myself in Suryakumar Yadav’s shoes and for an instance think how he would be feeling at this point of time. I’m sure every player has got the right to be gutted about being left out of the side and that’s fair if he’s feeling bad about it.”
Suryakumar’s returns with the bat were ordinary, Ashwin conceded, but he felt the leadership component had been overlooked. “But just the whole, the way it’s been done, I’m a little apprehensive about the whole thing. Because in my head I’m thinking, okay… I’m just putting myself in Surya’s shoes and thinking about it. ‘Okay, sure, my batting form has let me down over the last 18 months or 15 months or whatever it is. I haven’t been in the prime form that I could have been. But then I managed to win a T20 World Cup for the country.’”
Numbers underline Ashwin’s point. India used the same XI for most of the World Cup, and Suryakumar’s captaincy calls — bowling Axar Patel early in the powerplay, holding Jasprit Bumrah back — were widely praised. Those decisions, the spinner believes, should buy a skipper a bit more time.
“Didn’t have the greatest of great World Cups as a batter but surely, just like everyone else in the team – the coach, the vice-captain, the best-performing batter, the best-performing bowler – he’s also quite been the best-performing skipper, right? He’s played his part.”
Ashwin then widened the debate: “Can we put big stalwarts in his shoes? Has there been an instance where a captain who’s won the T20 World Cup has been left out without any ultimatum? I’m sure there’s been communication. I have no doubts with regards to that. But this is quite a landmark day in selection. Because this will be taken as some sort of a precedent when the next time such a thing ever comes up.”
Enter Shreyas Iyer. The 31-year-old’s stock has risen in franchise cricket: title success with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, runners-up with Punjab Kings in 2025. The selectors have clearly leaned on that record, but Ashwin thinks parachuting a new leader into an established dressing-room brings challenges.
“Very recently, we had this conversation on Shreyas Iyer deserving to get into the T20 side,” Ashwin said. “I’m all for that. But I’m again, wondering… If I am one of the other 14 members in that T20 World Cup-winning side, I’m looking at one another and saying, ‘hey, we’ve been here for a while now. Haven’t we done enough to warrant a position as a captain?’”
Ashwin acknowledged Iyer’s tactical nous yet flagged continuity. “The one thing that’s probably worked in favor for Shreyas is that he’s won an IPL as a skipper for KKR. I wouldn’t put any black mark on the fact that he’s been a wonderful captain in the IPL. He’s got a lot of tactics right. But, that said, there are team ethos that need to be well in place and well in mark. Axar Patel was the big choice as a vice-captain. And if the choice of vice-captain cannot step up into being the next captain, then we ar”
The thought trails off, perhaps mirroring Ashwin’s own uncertainty. What is clear is that India’s selectors have made an unusually hard-line call. Whether it strengthens the side or merely complicates future decisions is, as ever, a question only results will answer.
