“Beautiful memory”: Suryakumar Yadav recalls his time at Eden Gardens ahead of England T20I series

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 21 (ANI): Ahead of the first T20I of the five-match series against England, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav recalled the time when he used to play at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the time of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The five-match T20I series against England will begin on Wednesday at the iconic Eden Gardens. The second and third matches will be held on January 25 and 28 in Chennai and Rajkot, respectively. The fourth game of the series will be played on January 31 in Pune. Mumbai will host the final match of the T20I series on February 2.

“It’s a vintage-type feeling. It feels good when you come here. It feels good to think about it. When I sit in the room and think that when I used to play matches here in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, it was also a beautiful memory,” Suryakumar Yadav said in a video posted by BCCI on X.

Suryakumar joined Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from Mumbai Indians in 2014, the year year in which the franchise want to lift the title. While playing for Knight Riders for four years, from 2014 to 2017, the 34-year-old scored just 608 runs from 54 games.

Further, the Mumbai-born cricketer went on to say that while playing for the Kolkata-based franchise at the Eden Gardens, he never thought of leading the Men in Blue at the same ground.

“I remember in 2014 when I came to KKR for the first time. Since then, till today, after 10-11 years, I never thought that I would ever lead India. But today, standing on this ground, thinking that I’m going to lead because this is also a historic stadium. It’s fun to think about it and has been a beautiful journey,” the right-hand batter added.

Youngsters Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Dhruv Jurel have retained their place in the 20-over squad. Seamer Harshit Rana who was in the T20I squad against South Africa but couldn’t make it into the playing eleven has also been named in the 15-member lineup for the upcoming series.

One of the main talking points will be Shami’s inclusion in the Men in Blue squad. The 34-year-old seamer will be donning the blue jersey after 2023.

Last year, Shami returned to domestic cricket with Bengal after undergoing ankle surgery that kept him sidelined for nearly a year. Shami had also been a part of Bengal’s squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Shami had made an impressive comeback to competitive cricket, having last featured in the ODI World Cup 2023 final. Following ankle surgery and overcoming a series of setbacks, he returned to action for Bengal in a Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in November.

Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Mohammed Shami will be leading the Indian seam armoury. While, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, and Washington Sundar will be in charge of the spin attack.

India squad for T20I series against England: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (vc), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk).