New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav on Thursday said overcoming the fear of failure in knockout games has been a key contributor to the national team’s stellar success over the past 15 months.
India have won two ICC titles and the Asia Cup since their T20 World Cup triumph in June 2024. The Champions Trophy win in February was in the ODI format but last month Suryakumar led India to their second Asia Cup title in the T20 format.
The big-hitting batter said India are reaping the rewards of playing an attacking brand of cricket.
“I feel in the last year and a half, when we started winning the championships, we started playing this game in a little different way. In knockout situations, not to think about fear of failure, just go out and do what we do best and put our best foot forward and not think about the result,” said Suryakumar at a ‘Skyscanner’ event.
Until the trophy in Barbados in June 2024, India had not won an ICC event for more than 10 years. Suryakumar said a mental reset brought about the desired results.
“That’s the attitude, that’s the culture we created in the team environment. Cricket has been going on for a really long time, but since 2022, we thought, after we came back from Australia, after that T20 World Cup in Australia, we thought, we’ll have to do something different.
“If we have to win a championship, we’ll have to play in a different way,” said the India skipper.
Suryakumar also gave due credit to Rohit Sharma for teaching him the tricks of the leadership trade.
“I think it’s more of a brother’s bond which we share, we go a long way. I still remember when I made my first class debut for Bombay in 2010-2011. He was around in the domestic circuit and from there to the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.
“Then I left, went to KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders). But when I came back (to Mumbai Indians) in 2018, he was the captain. That’s when the journey started. I Learned a lot of tricks of the trade. Learned all the leadership qualities and how he used to handle everyone on the field, off the field.
“And then when he became captain of India in T20 and ODIs, that’s when I could see the real Rohit Sharma with a lot of pressure,” said Suryakumar. PTI MG BS PM BS PM PM
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