Former India selector backs Suryakumar Yadav amid T20I captaincy snub, says 'I am sure he has been...'

In a shocking turn of events, Suryakumar Yadav was removed from men's T20I captaincy when the BCCI announced India's squad for the upcoming series against Ireland and England with Shreyas Iyer being named as the new skipper of the side. Additionally, Suryakumar has been dropped from the squad as well because of his poor batting form.

MSK Prasad reflects on the captaincy change

However, former India chief selector MSK Prasad has a different perspective on the situation, as he believes that the former T20I skipper is just 'rested' for the T20I series against Ireland and England. On the contrary, the current chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Suryakumar Yadav has been replaced by Shreyas Iyer as the skipper, which clearly says that he was dropped and not rested.

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In an interaction with PTI, the former India chief selector opined that Suryakumar must have been given rest, as it is not easy to replace a world cup winning captain like that, especially when the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are not there.

“You don’t drop your World Cup-winning captain like that and that too in the next international match itself. Jasprit Bumrah is rested and so is Hardik Pandya. I am sure, Surya has also been rested," said Prasad.

"He is too good and too big a player to be dropped, The selectors have rested all three. It’s interesting to see all three – Suryakumar, Hardik and Bumrah have been No. 1 players in ICC ranking for a very long time. Bumrah is still No. 1. So, no harm in giving all three rest. I am sure all of them will come back to the team sooner than later," added Prasad.

Suryakumar Yadav's record as India's T20I skipper

Suryakumar Yadav has led India in 52 T20Is, guiding the team to win 42 of those while enduring only eight losses. This gave him an impressive win percentage of 80.77, making it one of the best captaincy records in Indian cricket's history.

During his stint as India skipper, Suryakumar led India to win the Asia Cup 2025 and ICC T20 World Cup 2026, and didn't lose a single T20I series.