R Sridhar, the former fielding coach for India, saw Suryakumar’s debut in Twenty20 international cricket in 2021 and is optimistic about the batsman’s ability to lead by example because of his cool head and collected nature.
“Surya has matured a lot from what I know of him from the earlier days, when I was at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), where he used to come as a young athlete, who was very aggressive and very upbeat. But now, if you see, he’s much more mature. He’s got a much more mellowed head on his shoulders, and he’s an astute thinker of the game.”
“I mean, he might not have led many matches over franchise cricket, or even for India – he’s led about eight games. I remember doing commentary in one of the India-Australia series, where he did a tremendous job. He also did a fabulous job in South Africa in the very short rain-curtailed series which he captained.
“Mind you, captaincy is not only about leading the team on the field. Captaincy is all about keeping your players in good space, even off the field, having those right conversations with them, and making sure that each and every player, who’s not just only in the squad, but also outside the squad, on the fringe of making it to the eleven, they’re also in good space, and they’re also well taken care of.
“So captaincy brings a lot more onto the table for Surya. It is going to be challenging initially, but I think Surya is someone who’ll take to it like fish to water,” says Sridhar in an exclusive conversation with IANS, facilitated by Sony Sports Network.
When Suryakumar was named Mumbai’s captain for the 2014-15 domestic cricket season, it was his first taste of leadership. However, it was a lackluster period, and rumors about his irascible persona leading to indiscipline meant Suryakumar missed out on the Mumbai leadership position.
Mumbai restored Suryakumar as captain in 2019 after the calm and collected man turned a new page in his life, especially when it came to obtaining that India cap. From 2019 to 2021, he would captain Mumbai in 16 Twenty20 matches for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Sridhar thinks Suryakumar has what it takes to lead India as captain, but he needs to concentrate on picking the best playing eleven and communicating well.
“He’s got all the wherewithal to be a successful captain. But now that the captaincy is a full-time thing, with that comes more pressure, because his communication has to be more spot on. He needs to know what combination he needs. Obviously, he needs to gel with the new coach, Gautam Gambhir, who is also a no-nonsense person.”
Sridhar claims that Suryakumar benefited from playing for the national team under Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as well as from being Gambhir’s vice captain for the Kolkata Knight Riders. “The fact that Surya knows Gautam Gambhir very well from his days in KKR, before 2017 and 2018, that should hold him in good stead.”
“The fact that he’s played a lot of cricket under Rohit, and to an extent, under Virat, should have been a good learning for him. It should have been a good internship for him, watching them, observing them, how they go about captaincy.
Normally, India vs. Sri Lanka matches would be low-key events, but there’s an air of intrigue because both sides have new captains and coaches for the Twenty20 International series. “That’s what makes this series very exciting I guess, because it’s the beginning of a new chapter in Indian cricket. We must say this because, especially in the T20 format, not just the coach is new, the captain is (also) new.
“We’re not going to be having Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja anymore in this particular format. So it opens up the opportunity for many of our intern youngsters to kind of take the legacy forward going ahead in the next T20 World Cup (which) is in India (in 2026).
“So they have a good two years to kind of gel and set a platform, play a certain brand of cricket, and have a certain philosophy with which they will play this particular format. That is what makes this series very interesting, because this is where the foundation is going to be laid for that philosophy and vision,” concluded Sridhar.