CHENNAI: On Tuesday, when Suryakumar Yadav shuffled across and whipped South Africa's Lungi Ngidi over square-leg in his typical fashion, it seemed like he had finally got back the mojo. The Indian captain, once the top T20I batter in the world, has been out of runs for a while and consecutive boundaries in Cuttack made it look like he was in the zone.
The kind of zone where he looks invincible, toying with bowlers, pacers or spinners, across the park at will. One where he defies the laws of batting, physics and make the opponent captain clueless with his field placements. When he is in such a zone, Yadav is a 360 degree batter who could take on any attack and run away with the contest.
It is what brought him the reputation in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians. It is how he has batted from the moment he pulled Jofra Archer on the first ball he faced in international cricket. It was a high moment from where his career only skyrocketed even further. From the time he made his debut in Ahmedabad till the end of 2023, Yadav was on such a high that he was the ICC T20I cricketer of the year in both 2022 and 2023. In this period, he hit 2141 runs in 57 innings at 45.55 average and 171.55 strike rate.
However, since then, his numbers has steadily taken a dive. Last year, even though India won the T20 World Cup, Yadav scored 429 runs at 26.81 (AVG) and 151.59 (SR) and it has only gotten worse in 2025 — 196 runs in 16 innings at 15.07 (AVG) and 126.45 (SR). It becomes a even bigger concern because he has been India's T20I captain since July 2024.
Often, these number go under the radar because of the team's dominating run, thanks to Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson (when he used to open) at the top and Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya in the middle-order. Sharma leads the way with 773 runs at 45.47 average and 194.71 SR. But when the left-hander falls early, and with Shubman Gill still figuring out his style in T20Is, Yadav's form and lack of runs is causing a headache.
The skipper, however, has played it down in the past saying he is out of runs and not out of form. "I feel I am not out of form, I feel I am out of runs," Suryakumar said after winning the T20 Asia Cup in Dubai few months ago. "I believe more in what I am doing in the nets and my preparation. So in matches, things are on autopilot."
The problem is that the autopilot seems to be crashing more often than ever. That he is yet to score a fifty in 16 innings this year while batting at No 3 for India in T20Is should cause an alarm. So much so that if he had not been the captain, there will be questions over his place in the squad by now especially with the talent pool waiting to break into the Indian team in this particular format.
Which is why, the next few games will be all the more crucial for Yadav. The last thing he and India will want is a timid Yadav who is searching for confidence going into a home T20 WC. Leading India in a home WC is enough pressure, and if the runs aren't coming it will not take long before Yadav feels the heat. The best way to avoid that is score some crucial runs, starting from the second T20I against South Africa on Thursday. Can he? Only time will tell.
