CHENNAI: Former India and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav expressed his shock and disappointment at being removed from the position months after winning the T20 World Cup for the country.
Yadav, who lifted the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad on March 8, was left out of the next T20I assignment after the Indian Premier League with Shreyas Iyer taking over as captain. The Mumbaikar said he spent two months trying to come to terms with what had happened. "I sat at home for 40-50 days. I was doing nothing, and I was completely shocked. I was thinking, what should I do now? Do I want to play or not?," he told former India cricketer Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
"A lot was going on in my mind. One day, suddenly my wife said, 'Just think about why you started playing this game 20 years ago? Because you were mad for this game. Then bring that passion back again.'"
At 35, Yadav had already expressed his desire to lead India in the next T20 World Cup and Olympics after winning the title in March. Despite his poor form, he did not lose a single T20I series as captain and went on to defend India's T20 World Cup title.
The Mumbaikar said he smiled when he found his name was missing and did not react emotionally. "I smiled like this when my name was not there. Whatever cricket I played throughout the two years, whenever I was in situations where there was pressure and things were not going my way, I have always smiled," he said.
"I also did not think this would happen. I was preparing to take this team forward for another two years; then the Olympics will come, then there will be another T20 World Cup, another challenge going forward. But at the same time, what you think and what others are thinking are two different things. If they thought that this is a better call going forward, they took that call. But I did not react."