How Suryakumar Yadav pipped Hardik Pandya to become India’s T20I captain; Know here
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Suryakumar Yadav recently led India to the T20 World Cup 2026 title win.
Indian Cricket Team, under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, scripted history when they won their third T20 World Cup title. The Men in Blue beat New Zealand in the final of 2026 edition in Ahmedabad, becoming the first team to win three titles and win it back to back and also win at home.
By winning the final in Ahmedabad, India helped fans overcome the pain of November 19, the day when India lost the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia. With this T20 World Cup win, Suryakumar Yadav joined an elite list of Indian captains to have won an ICC title for their country.
MS Dhoni became the first Indian captain to win all ICC titles. He won the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma helped India end their ICC title drought by winning two ICC titles in a space of six months. He first won the T20 World Cup in June 2024, followed by the Champions Trophy in March 2025.
Suryakumar was named India’s T20I captain in July 2024, just before India’s white-ball series against Sri Lanka. This was after both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma decided to retire from the T20I format after T20 World Cup 2024.
After Rohit retired, it was almost certain that Hardik Pandya will take over the charge of T20I team as he was the vice-captan of the team. But, in a drastic turn of events, it was Suryakumar Yadav, who was named as India’s captain, leaving many shocked.
It was planned by Rohit Bhai and Ajit Bhai – Suryakumar Yadav on his appointment as India’s T20I captain
In a chat with PTI, Suryakumar Yadav has recently shared the story about how he went onto become India’s T20I captain. He spoke about the events that shaped how he went onto become the T20I captain of India.
“Jay Bhai, the BCCI secretary at that time, called me 3 or 4 days before the Sri Lanka series. He called me and told me that they were making me the captain of the T20 team going forward but I was pretty sure that it was all being planned by Rohit Bhai and Ajit Bhai at that time – Gautam Bhai came in later. They, along with Rahul Sir – Rahul Dravid, the coach then – had discussed it with Jay Bhai. Then they decided that I should lead India going forward” SKY said to PTI.
Under Suryakumar’s captaincy, India have played 52 matches and have won 42 of them. The team has lost just 8 matches with two games ended with a no-result. The recent T20 World Cup win remains his biggest achievement as India’s T20I captain. Besides the T20 World Cup win, Suryakumar also led India to Asia Cup 2025 win as captain.
How many major titles did Suryakumar Yadav win as India’s T20I captain?
India won the Asia Cup 2025 and T20 World Cup 2026 under SKY’s captaincy.
How many T20I games has Suryakumar Yadav won as India captain?
Suryakumar has won 40 out of the 52 games as India’s T20I captain.
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Anshuman Roy is a senior cricket journalist with nearly a decade of experience covering the game. His love for cricket began in childhood, playing at school and college level before turning that passion into a profession. Over the years, he has written for several reputed media houses and specialises in news, features, previews, reviews, match reports, and opinion pieces.