MUMBAI: At a time when speculation is rife around whether he will be retained as India’s T20 captain for the Ireland and England tours, Surya Kumar YadavHis bad form shows no sign of softening.On Tuesday, the 35-year-old, captaining Triumph Knights in their opening match of Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League, was dismissed for 19 off 11 balls as his side lost by 21 runs against North Mumbai Panthers at the Wankhede Stadium. Suriya started well, adding 37 off 25 balls for the third wicket with youngster Nutan Goyal, who scored 93 off 56 balls, but was caught deep square by leg-off-spinner Rahul Sawant (2-32 in four overs) in the seventh over. Chasing 189, Triumph Knights were restricted to 188 for eight. Even after leading India to a second consecutive T20 World Cup title in February–March, Surya maintained typical form in the tournament, managing just 242 runs in nine matches at 30.25, with a top score of 84 not out against the USA in the opening match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.The veteran batsman’s fortunes with the bat did not improve in IPL 2026, where he scored just 260 runs in 13 matches at 20.76, with a strike rate of 147.54, with just two half-centuries, for Mumbai Indians, who crashed out in the league stage.India are scheduled to play two T20Is against Ireland in Belfast later this month. The first T20I is scheduled for June 26 and the second T20I will be played two days later on June 28.
