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Surya the batter needs to get cracking again
Suryakumar Yadav leads India to 26 wins in 35 T20Is but struggles with batting average of 25.19; upcoming matches crucial for his form before World Cup.
New Delhi: India are winning under Suryakumar Yadav. A record of 26 wins in 35 T20 Internationals shows that he has a knack of bringing the best out of his teammates despite having to navigate a tricky phase with some seniors hanging up their boots.
However, his success as captain has not exactly helped his batting. Over the last two years, across 38 matches, he has scored 781 runs at an average of just 25.19 (SR 147.35) – the lowest among all the specialist batters in the team.
There can sometimes be the temptation to sweep certain failings under the carpet when the team is winning, but this shouldn’t be one of them because come the T20 World Cup at home in February, India will need all their batters to fire.
In his first 43 innings in international cricket, Surya lit up the T20I format like no other batter before him. He scored three hundreds and 13 fifties at an average of 46.4 and a strike-rate of 180.3. These were world leading numbers and no one had his blend of consistency and explosiveness. It made him the X-factor for the team.
Now, after 90 innings, he has four 100s, 21 fifties, an average of 36.39 and a strike-rate of 164.05 – still high but the numbers highlight the fall of India’s top batter.
Comparative numbers
In isolation, his numbers are not good enough to get him into the team. Yashasvi Jaiswal (571 runs, avg 39.22, SR 164.95), Rinku Singh (370 runs, avg 37.00, SR 151.63) and even Sanju Samson (621 runs, avg 31.05, SR 157.21) have done better. But they are on the bench while Surya’s struggles are becoming more evident with every game.
The 35-year-old made a successful comeback after sports hernia surgery in mid-2025, completing rehabilitation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence and returning to lead India in the Asia Cup in September. He described the forced break and the six-week rehab as an opportunity to return to his “best version”.
But he clearly isn’t there yet. Everyone knows what Surya can do but how much of that is possible in the current reality is up for debate.
To be fair, Surya perfected his method in the Indian Premier League before making his India debut. And when he started playing international cricket, few bowlers had any clue how to curb his shots. That made him a standout and also the wicket every opposition team wanted. Even when other batters in the line-up would falter, the right-hander would show that he was cut from a different cloth.
The runs, however, seem to be drying out now, and perhaps international sides are being smarter too about how they bowl to him. His past performances justifiably earn him a long rope and his numbers for Mumbai Indians in the 2025 IPL (717 runs, avg 65.18, SR 167.92) show that he can still become unstoppable.
But these are warning signs that he must not ignore. The next four T20Is against SA are a good opportunity to find some runs and put the concerns to rest. A firing Surya makes India a completely different proposition and he will know that better than most.
After the first T20I against SA at Cuttack, Surya urged his teammates to remain fearless, and was happy to see the batting depth rescuing the team.
But there is a thin line between being fearless and reckless. And true fearlessness is a by-product of absolute trust in your method and the fact that it is succeeding. That is the space Surya needs to reach again. He’s still got time but the sooner he does that the better.
