Thank you Surya! Now India must build for 2028

New Delhi: India T20I captain registers historic win in Ahmedabad Suryakumar Yadav An ambitious blueprint was unveiled: take India to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, win a gold medal and defend the T20 World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand later that year.“The next target is Olympic gold and the T20 World Cup that year,” Surya told reporters after India defeated New Zealand by 96 runs and became the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups.

There is nothing wrong with Surya setting the bar high for the current Indian team, which has produced unreal consistency in the form since he took over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma in 2024.Surya has impressive statistics as captain. Since taking over the reins after the 2024 World Cup, India have been the team to beat in the shortest format. Under Surya’s leadership, the Indian team played 52 games, won 42 (including two Super League games) and lost only 8 games, two of which were scoreless.

The record under Surya is enviable, but with talent, age, poor form and the cloud of a wrist injury, he may not be the right man to lead India into the future.Before the T20 World Cup, Suriya’s form took a turn for the worse. He has played 23 innings and has not reached 50 innings. During that period, his goal-scoring rate was below 120. But just before the T20 World Cup, he returned to style at the right time, smashing three 50-plus balls in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. He carried this form into the T20 World Cup, scoring 84 off 49 balls in India’s first match against the United States.After this, Suriya once again struggled with his form. In the match, he scored 242 runs in nine innings with an average of 30.25 and a strike rate of 136.72. He made 30 wickets in three games against Pakistan, Netherlands and Zimbabwe and looked shaky with quality spin in the middle order.

During Delhi’s match against Namibia, he was bowled by 35-year-old left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz. Surya was pitted against Pakistan’s spin trio of Saim Ayub, Usman Tariq and Mohammad Nawaz on a dual-tempo pitch at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Surya’s 29-ball 32 took away the momentum after Ishan Kishan’s blistering start.In the next game against the Netherlands, he again stopped the game with a score of 34 off 28 balls. But for Shivam Dube’s 31-ball 66 and Hardik Pandya’s powerful knock, India might have been in danger as the margin of victory was just 17 runs.Against South Africa, Surya struggled in the penalty area and scored 18 goals from 22 balls. The India skipper found his best form with a blistering 13-ball 33 against Zimbabwe in Chennai. It was his second impactful shot of the tournament.

He was in trouble again during the virtual quarter-final against West Indies at Eden Gardens. His 18 off 16 balls robbed him of any motivation to chase big scores.In the semi-final at the Wankhede, the ball was flying and Surya was tripped by Adil Rashid. It was the second time in the game that he fished outside the crease.In the final, when India reached 200 in the 15th over, he decided to come out and bat instead of fielding the in-form Tilak Varma or Shivam Dube. However, he only stopped for one ball because he went to buy a golden duck.

Despite the batting failure, he became the third Indian captain after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to lead his team to the T20 World Cup title.and Jasprit BumrahAfter the golden four rounds, it stands to reason that India will once again go to Los Angeles 2028 and the next T20 World Cup as favorites. But Surya is certainly not the right man to lead India to the Olympics and the next T20 World Cup. India should thank Suriya for his services and start preparing a blueprint under a new captain.