Surya Kumar Yadavwho recently led Indian national cricket team With a historic victory in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, admits that while he dreams of playing Test cricket, the shortest format remains where he feels most comfortable.Speaking in an interview with PTI, the Indian skipper spoke about his journey across all formats, his love for red ball cricket, and why T20 cricket became his natural habitat.
Still dream to play test cricket.
“…What’s written in your life, you get. I started with red ball cricket myself, played Ranji Trophy for 10-12 years. I played a lot of red ball cricket in Bombay because if you grow up in Bombay, you start with the red ball yourself, so everything revolves around the red ball,” he said.
“But gradually when we started playing white-ball cricket, the inclination shifted towards that a little bit and then came to this format (T20),” he said. I tried hard to play well in ODI cricket as well but nothing happened there.’“The way T20 was going, our hands are set, so to speak” (The way T20 was working for me, I got good at it; you could say that).
ODI Cricket Never worked for him.
While Suriya Kumar has thrived in T20 cricket, he admits that the 50-over format never suited his game.“I feel as much as I’ve experienced one-day cricket up close and I’ve seen it, it’s a format where you have to bat in three different ways. Sometimes if you go in a hurry, if the wickets fall early, you have to bat like in Test cricket.“Then you have to bat with a good strike rate like in ODIs and then later at the end of the innings, you have to bat like in the T20 format. So, it’s a format that I never understood. I tried my best to play it. But then it’s a challenging format,” he said.Suryakumar last featured in an ODI during the 2023 Cricket World Cup final against Australia, where he scored 18 off 28 balls. India lost the final, and did not play an ODI after that.
ODI cricket still has its charm.
The Indian captain recalled the incredible atmosphere during the 2023 ODI World Cup, saying the tournament showed that the format still has a unique appeal.Surya Kumar also recalled the emotion that the format managed to stir during the 2023 World Cup.“…When I was with the team for the 2023 ODI World Cup and I played, that atmosphere, the whole atmosphere of the format, the preparation to go to the final. It was completely different from what we played in the 2026 and 2024 T20 World Cups.“So, it has a different appeal, ODI cricket also has a different appeal, T20 has another,” he explained.
