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India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav did not mince words during the pre-T20 Asia Cup 2025 captains’ press conference. When asked about the high voltage India-Pakistan clash later this week in Abu Dhabi, Suryakumar said that one cannot win without aggression on the field.
"Aggression (is) always there on field and you can't do without aggression if you want to win," Suryakumar told the reporters on the eve of India’s tournament opener.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha was asked the same question but he took a different route.
"If someone wants to be aggressive that is his call. From my side I don't give anyone any instructions," Agha said.
Suryakumar is confident about his team as they gear up to face UAE on September 10 in Dubai.
"We have got few practice sessions. Feels good. It's will be a good challenge playing best teams from Asia Cup," he said.
India not taking UAE lightly
But, Suryakumar does not want to make the mistake of taking UAE lightly who are coached by former India cricketer Lalchand Rajput.
"They are playing exciting brand of cricket and came close in some of the games in a (recent) tri-series. Hope they cross the line in the Asia Cup," the 34-year-old said.
In addition, he won’t look to tinker too much with the team combination and look to experiment.
"When you play a format you need to know how good is your preparation. Why mend something that isn't broken? If something has given us results why would we need to change that aspect separately," he said.
Suryakumar, Waseem chasing milestones
Meanwhile, Suryakumar is four sixes away from becoming fifth batter to hit 150 T20I sixes. He has 146 sixes from 83 T20Is. Only UAE captain Muhammad Waseem has more sixes than him despite less than 100 T20I appearances. Waseem is second on the list with 180 sixes. The top spot belongs to former India T20I captain Rohit Sharma with 205 sixes.
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