It’s rare to hear Suryakumar Yadav concede that something is wrong with his batting, yet that’s what he did at BCCI headquarters this week while the World Cup squad was unveiled. “Ye waala patch thoda lamba ho gaya (this patch has stretched a bit too long),” he admitted with a wry grin. The numbers confirm the feeling: since late 2024 he has averaged 12.84 and struck at 117.87, with no half-century in 22 T20I knocks.
Key facts first. The World Cup starts on 7 February. India play only five T20Is – a short visit to New Zealand – before boarding that flight. Suryakumar, now national captain in the shortest format, therefore has roughly a fortnight’s cricket in which to relocate the fluency that elevated him to No.1 in the ICC rankings just two summers ago.
Confident tone, modest return
He insists he has the solution. “I’m sure everyone has seen this in their respective careers. I will also go over it sometime. I know what to do, I know where things are going wrong. I’ve got some time to work on it… You’ll definitely see Surya is back.”
India’s coaching staff, at least publicly, echo that calm. A member of the support team, speaking off the record, described the dip as “a timing issue rather than anything technical”, pointing out that net sessions in Visakhapatnam last month “looked perfectly fine”. The numbers, though, remain stark: a top score of 14 against England in January, 47* versus Pakistan at the Asia Cup, and then 12, 5, 12, 5 when South Africa toured.
A timeline of the slide
June 2024 – scores freely while India lift the World Cup under Rohit Sharma.
Sept 2024 – handed the T20I captaincy.
Dec 2024 in South Africa – passes five once in three innings.
Jan 2025 v England at home – two ducks, average 5.40.
Aug 2025 Asia Cup – that unbeaten 47, followed by another lull.
Nov 2025 Australia tour – three brisk twenties at a strike-rate north of 160.
Dec 2025 back home – average 8.50 against South Africa.
Those peaks and troughs mean the debate has turned noisy – former opener Wasim Jaffer recently said on television that “the longer Surya searches, the louder the questions grow”. For now the selectors have stayed patient, leaning on his record 1164-run haul in 2022 and the fact he still needs one more hundred to equal Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell’s all-time T20I tally of five.
What is he changing?
Asked whether he pores over old footage, Suryakumar laughed: “I’ve been watching it for the past three months (laughs). Obviously, you go back to seeing your old videos where you batted really well, and you delivered for India. And you try to carry the same thing.” He then added the line that summed up his mood: “I’ve been trying; I’ve been batting beautifully in the nets. The same thing… this is a small hurdle. It’s invisible – I can’t see it – but I’ll overcome it, I’m sure.”
Coaches have nudged him to trust the process, but a minor tweak is noticeable – he has started his innings a touch more conservatively, keen to spend six or eight deliveries before bringing out the full 360-degree repertoire. Whether that patience survives the pressure of a world tournament is the obvious question.
Room for optimism
There are encouraging signs. Even during the South Africa series his bat speed looked intact; he was simply a fraction early on the pull or too inventive against the yorker. Those are timing glitches, fixable with rhythm and early-season Indian pitches. And the mood inside the camp is relaxed rather than frantic. One back-room analyst put it this way: “If he gets 30 off 15 in the first match in Wellington the narrative flips in a night.”
For now, the narrative is simple: India’s T20I skipper is out of runs, not out of form – his phrase, repeated more than once over the last 12 months – and he trusts the next five innings to prove it. The countdown to 7 February feels tighter than ever, yet Suryakumar’s own words linger: “You’ll definitely see Surya is back.”
