Suryakumar Yadav addresses concerns surrounding his form, says that ‘I am not out of form, I am out of runs’.
Suryakumar Yadav had a poor tournament with the bat, scoring just 72 runs in seven innings, but he wasn’t fussed about it.
On Monday, Suryakumar Yadav entered the press conference room in Dubai long after midnight. The night had been filled with turmoil and mayhem. Who would hand over the Asia Cup trophy to India? If it came from Mohsin Naqvi, the chairman of the ACC, would India accept it? Given the allegations that their squad bus had already departed, will Pakistan even show up for their news conference? By and by, we had the answers.
Suryakumar had a bad tournament, and his form might have suffered as a result of the non-cricketing problems.
In India’s second match of the competition, against Pakistan, he scored an undefeated 47; nevertheless, he finished the Asia Cup with scores of 0, 5, 12, and 1. His dismissal on Sunday while trying to put Shaheen Shah Afridi on the up put India in a vulnerable position as they chased 147 at 10 for 2.
“I feel I am not out of form, I feel I am out of runs,” Suryakumar said. “I believe more in what I am doing in the nets and my preparation. So in matches, things are on autopilot.”
However, he has a perfect record as captain. He has won series against England, South Africa, and Sri Lanka after taking over as full-time T20I captain. Most recently, India won the Asia Cup after winning seven straight games.
After responding to the question about his form, Suryakumar jokingly turned the microphone around, encouraging reporters to aim some of their questions at Abhishek Sharma, the Player of the Tournament who was seated next to him.
“I’ve felt personally that when you are not scoring runs, it is difficult to take the team along. But Surya bhai is the same irrespective of whether he has scored runs or not,” Abhishek said, throwing his weight behind his captain.
Despite everything that transpired, Suryakumar emphasised that there was a greater sense of satisfaction with India’s position leading up to the T20 World Cup, where they are the reigning champions, early next year.
“What we wanted to achieve in this tournament, we have achieved,” he said. “There are a lot of things which you don’t get to achieve in a bilateral tournament. This was like a knockout tournament.
“As soon as we entered the Super Four, I told the boys that let’s approach it like a quarter-final, semi-final and final. So we played a semi-final type of game against Sri Lanka, and then it was a perfect final. There are nerves, responsibility and pressure, and it was a perfect final.”