Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer has expressed concerns over Suryakumar Yadav's form ahead of Asia Cup 2025. This comes after the 34-year-old's poor displays in India's last two T20I assignments that were against South Africa and England respectively. Notably, Suryakumar only scored 26 runs in 3 matches against the former and followed that up with 28 runs in 5 matches against the latter.
Though the team has performed quite well under Suryakumar's leadership and are yet to lose a T20I series ever since he took over the role in July last year, his form with the bat has deteriorated massively. Moreover, Shubman Gill is rumoured to become India's all-format captain in the future and if Suryakumar doesn't improve his form, then the BCCI can very well hand the leadership duties to the former.
Suryakumar improved drastically in IPL
Jaffer highlighted how Suryakumar's numbers in the shortest format have dipped massively in the past few assignments, but added that the latter did find his groove back in IPL 2025. The 34-year-old had an exceptional season with the bat for Mumbai Indians and finished as the second-highest run-getter in the tournament with 717 runs in 16 matches. He played a key role in the Mumbai-based franchise qualifying for the playoffs.
"His numbers dropping (while leading India) is a worry. Him not getting the runs is a concern. In the last few internationals he played, he was looking to score mostly behind square on the leg side. His shot selection was not up to the mark. But he has since worked on his game, and as we saw, he was a completely different player in the IPL," Jaffer told The Times of India.
"He started scoring on the offside as well. When Surya plays shots all around the wicket, there’s not much the bowlers can do. He is very dangerous. Then there isn’t margin for the bowlers. He has done well in the IPL; hopefully, that should continue,' he added.
Meanwhile, Asia Cup will be Suryakumar's first major tournament as India's T20I captain. The Men in Blue head into the continental tournament as the favourites and will be aiming to win the title for a record ninth time in their history. Notably, India are the most successful team in the Asia Cup with 8 trophies under their belt and Sri Lanka are second with 6 trophies.
On the other hand, India will be kicking-off their campaign in the competition with the clash against UAE on September 10 before locking horns against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14. Their group stage will come to a conclusion with the match against Oman on September 19.