‘Axar was angry when dropped… Gave Abhishek guarantee he’ll face 1st ball in the final… India a cricketer-loving nation, wanted to make it a cricket-loving country’

Question: Do you remember where you got the call?

Suryakumar Yadav: I can never forget that day. One week before going to Sri Lanka, I got a call from Jay sir saying we are making you the T20 captain. After that, Ajit bhai called, and I also spoke to Gauti bhai because I knew he was going to be the coach. Jay sir said: speak to all the senior players, prepare a roadmap. The vision was to win the World Cup.

Question: What did you want to achieve in those two years?

Suryakumar Yadav: We knew the way we played the 2024 T20 World Cup — that brand of cricket — won’t work going ahead. So we decided: from hereon we will not pay attention to personal milestones, the goal is to win games. If you noticed, till the semifinals none of our players were top run-getters or top wicket-takers. But we qualified and kept winning. Every game, every player contributed. It was very important to spread this thing like a virus in the team from the start. We planted this team culture 18 months back.

Question: The team wanted to play a certain style?

Suryakumar Yadav: Everyone used to think India plays differently in bilaterals and differently in ICC events. Yehi soch badalni thi (We wanted to change this thinking). We will play ICC events the same way we play bilaterals — more courageously, more openly. We put players in tough situations because we knew that in big games, handling pressure is the key.

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Question: How did you identify the talent?

Suryakumar Yadav: Eighty to ninety percent of the team was already ready. I knew (Jasprit) Bumrah would take charge of the fast bowling, with Arshdeep (Singh) alongside him. We needed one more quick. Then Varun Chakravarthy made a comeback 18 months ago — we needed a spinner who could really disturb the opposition. And Axar (Patel) was a proven, underrated player. These four were our set bowlers. Then it was about setting the batting order — who opens, who bats three, who bats five. Even before the World Cup there were one or two positions moving around, but that always happens.

Question: No hero culture in the team — did you address that one-to-one or as a group?

Suryakumar Yadav: As a group. We sat together and talked about something bigger. Our country is a cricketer-loving country — we wanted to make it a cricket-loving country. Wherever we play, whatever stadium, we will entertain the crowd so much that people come to watch the Indian T20 team, not just the stars in it. It’s been a year and a half now and I feel the quality of cricket we have played, people will come to see this team. Sometimes we might fail in that. But our success rate will always be high, and players will always keep the team first. When we step inside the ground, we remind ourselves: so many people have come here today. We have to entertain them.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Final against New Zealand. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Question: Which game was an eye-opener, or created doubt?

Suryakumar Yadav: India vs South Africa was the eye-opener. I never had any doubt in this team — but it tightened our screws. After that there was no option of coming back. For us, Zimbabwe was a pre-quarter-final. West Indies was the quarter-final. Then the semis and the final. We had to play every game like a knockout.

Question: What did you tell Sanju after a bad series against New Zealand going into the World Cup?

Suryakumar Yadav: Sanju came with a lot going for him — a keeper who can bat at the top. I remember he came to me once and asked: “Just tell me what you want from me in this team.” We said: “We want the same Sanju Samson we’ve seen tear attacks apart.” And then he told the whole team — “We will keep playing what the team wants before what we want. Only then will we achieve something special.”

When he was not playing I told him: “This is a difficult phase but you have to take it in stride. If God has written something for you, you will get it. He was preparing himself — if the opportunity comes, grab it, and the whole world will witness it.”

Question: And his three innings changed the tournament?

Suryakumar Yadav: Absolutely. He scored 97, 89, 89 in the big games. If he wanted, he could have easily scored hundreds in all three — he was playing that fast. But if you take 10 balls to go from 89 to 100 when you could do it in three or four, you’re stealing six balls from the second batter. (Shivam) Dube scored 28 off six balls, 26 off eight. That was only possible because Sanju didn’t chase his hundred. The team that made 250-254 batting together would have got stuck at 240-245 otherwise. I told everyone: there are people who take 10 years to win an ICC trophy. You have the opportunity to win it at 24 or 25 — and in the next 10 years, win three or four more. But first you have to get a taste of it.

Question: What was your personal moment of the World Cup?

Suryakumar Yadav: It is very difficult to describe just one. When we were on the podium and I was walking towards the ICC chairman to lift the trophy — I slapped my face, just to check if I was dreaming. Because we had all seen this dream together as a team.

Question: What did you tell Axar when you dropped him?

Suryakumar Yadav: He was very angry — and he should have been. He’s an experienced player, he leads a franchise. He should be angry. I apologised. I told him I made a mistake and I’m sorry, but it was a call for the team. It was a hard conversation. He took it in his stride and we talked it through the next day.

India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav holds the tournament trophy with teammates during the presentation ceremony after India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad. (Source: PTI)

Question: You have someone like Hardik Pandya and Bumrah in the team — what roles did you give them?

Suryakumar Yadav: When we were in the Asia Cup I told Hardik: you are the most experienced big-match player in this group, share that with the others — talk to them about how to play in big games. Then after the South Africa game, something shifted. Hardik and I sat down with the entire batting unit and had a long conversation about how we needed to bat going forward — what the identity of this team actually was. After that our tide changed. Bumrah doesn’t need to be told anything — he knows how to work with the bowling unit. Whenever there’s a pressure situation he comes running and talks to the players. I saw that as his best quality. Axar is the same.

Question: Did the team ever make Gautam Gambhir laugh?

Suryakumar Yadav: In the first four games we didn’t give him a chance to laugh — but after that I think he was very happy watching this team, because I don’t think any T20 side in India has ever batted like this, scoring 250, 256, chasing well. I think after the final he smiled the most.

Question: And how did you use Dube?

Suryakumar Yadav: No one will remember, but he scored 27 off 15 balls in the 2024 World Cup final — the most important contribution that day. After that, Gauti bhai and Ajit bhai told me this player needs to be tested in different positions and got ready. So if you watch, he has batted everywhere from four to seven. His role was simple: if he bats, he creates impact; if he bowls, he covers a few overs. He was another underrated player in this tournament.

Question: What about persisting with Abhishek Sharma?

Suryakumar Yadav: That’s his identity as a player — when he bats for six or eight overs, he finishes games. I told him once: there are nine games in this World Cup, even if you fail in eight of them, score zero in all eight — I am giving you the guarantee that you will face the first ball in the final. Such players change games when they bat. I knew a day would come where he would finish it off.

In the final, Axar sat next to me and said: we have two world No. 1 players in this team and they will fire today. Abhishek was working so hard, and in the final he scored 50 off 18 balls. Six overs, 90 runs. From there the game was completely different. It’s very important to persist with such players.

Question: What about the team huddles — how did you run those?

Suryakumar Yadav: Freedom of speech in a team environment is very important — you have to hear everyone out. I go to ground level and talk to everyone. Those tense moments became funny sometimes too. Like when Rinku Singh tried to speak in English and everyone had to control their laughter. Same with Tilak Verma speaking in his Hyderabadi accent. These things bring a team together as much as anything.

Question: There were talks about superstitious activity — changing hotels and so on?

Suryakumar Yadav: We were on the flight to Wankhede for the semi-final when someone suggested we try a hotel change. Many teams have done it. We didn’t want to leave anything on the table that could take us closer to our goal. So if someone has won from there, let’s try it.

Question: And the talk about Ahmedabad being unlucky for India?

Suryakumar Yadav: People were saying India don’t win in Ahmedabad — this after the 2023 final. But look at it now. We’ve won there, in that same stadium. Now we know there’s no problem with the stadium.

Question: What about your own performance?

Suryakumar Yadav: Since I took captaincy I never paid attention to personal things — I always had 14 more people with me, and looking after them is just as important. The team was winning, I knew I was going in the right direction, and I knew my runs would come. In 2024, that catch changed my life. Now, after winning this World Cup as captain, I feel my life will change again.

Question: What is the pressure of playing a World Cup at home?

Suryakumar Yadav: When you’re playing in your home country, the pressure on any home team is enormous. You meet everyone at the hotel, at the airport — the security staff scanning your bags will say, “Sir, all the best, win the Cup.” We tried to cut out the outside noise, wear headphones. There were players addicted to social media who made the decision themselves, midway through the tournament, to stop. That’s a difficult thing for a 25 or 26-year-old of this generation. We kept the TV switched off in the dressing room. We tried not to follow other games.

Question: Any moments you’ll carry for a long time?

Suryakumar Yadav: Axar’s catch in the semi-final — similar to mine in 2024, just higher stakes. I was standing on the side and sprinted the moment he took it. A pressure situation that completely changed the course of the game. And the people working behind the scenes — fielding coach T Dilip introduced a ₹10,000 prize for the best fielder in practice. After the South Africa game, the video analyst showed us a ten-minute video of the past two years — one reel for the batters set to the Bahubali song, one for the bowlers set to O Shera Teer Te Taj. These small moments make a team stronger.

Question: What was the last speech before the final?

Suryakumar Yadav: It was Gauti bhai’s. He put the trophy in front of us and said: this is the most important thing in our dressing room, nothing else matters. How many runs you score, people will forget. But they will always remember this trophy. We will all be remembered for how many championships we won as a team. You can win 100 bilateral matches and no one will remember. That’s what drives us.