Ravichandran Ashwin, the former India spinner, who has a knack for speaking his mind, reckons June 6 was a “landmark day” in Indian cricket after Suryakumar Yadav was ousted and shown the door from the team despite him winning the T20 World Cup as the captain just a few months before. On Saturday, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee confirmed that Suryakumar would be replaced by Shreyas Iyer. It was a double whammy for the 35-year-old, as he lost the captaincy and his place in the squad for the series against Ireland and England, as well as the Asian Games.
Suryakumar’s dip in form led to him losing his place. In 2025, he didn’t hit a single fifty for India, and in 2026 World Cup, he played just a valuable knock against the USA. Things went from bad to worse in the IPL for SKY, who didn’t even breach the 300-run mark, and a poor season led the selectors to take a harsh call.
Ashwin said that Suryakumar did a sensational job as captain and deserved one more chance in the England series. He said that a great record as the captain should have given the experienced batter some leeway.
“Look, I think it’s a very interesting precedent, if I can say that. I just want to put myself in Suryakumar Yadav’s shoes and, for instance, think about how he would be feeling at this point in time. I’m sure every player has the right to be gutted about being left out of the side, and that’s fair if he’s feeling bad about it, but just the whole occasion, the way it’s been done, I am a little apprehensive about the whole thing,” Ashwin said on ESPNcricinfo.
“Because in my head I’m thinking, okay, I’m the T20 World Cup-winning captain. I’m just putting myself in Surya’s shoes and thinking about it. Sure, my batting form has let me down over the last 18 months or 15 months or whatever it is. I haven’t been in the prime form that I could have been. But then I managed to win a T20 World Cup for the country. Didn’t have the greatest World Cup as a batter, but surely, just like everyone else in the team, the coach, the vice-captain, the best-performing batter, best-performing bowler-he’s also been the best-performing skipper, right? He’s played his part,” he added.
‘Planning’
Agarkar on Saturday said that Suryakumar was shown the door because the committee wanted to plan for the next two-year cycle, and added that the poor form with the bat didn’t help Surya’s case. While Ashwin agreed with Agarkar’s planning bit, the former India spinner added that the committee could have given Suryakumar a last chance to either perform or perish.
“I saw Ajit’s press conference, and I like what he said: for the next two years is what we are planning, which is quite a good way of looking at it. But is there a possibility that they could have given Surya a bit more time? And if you feel he’s not a walk into your XI, could he have been given that big England series to ask himself to prove once again as a batter that he belongs in that place? I just think he deserved that after having accomplished such a huge feat in his career,” said Ashwin.
“Has there been an instance where a captain who’s won the T20 World Cup has been left out without any ultimatum? I’m sure there’s been communication. I have no doubts with regard to that. But this is quite a landmark day in selection if you ask me, because this will be taken as some sort of precedent the next time such a thing ever comes up. And let’s not forget, T20 is a high-risk game where the batters are expected to put their wicket on the line for scoring those extra boundaries. You want them to play a brand of cricket which is high risk and hence my question is: could the captain of the defending champions have been dealt a slightly better deal than what he was dealt?” he added.
