“One thing he will have to learn…”: Shastri highlights major challenge for Suryakumar as India’s T20I captain

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 27 (ANI): Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri backed newly-appointed T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav to do well for the team and pointed out one major area that he must work on to earn success as a skipper.

India’s tour of Sri Lanka begins with the first T20I on Saturday and consists of three T20Is and three ODIs. Following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shorter format after a triumphant ICC T20 World Cup campaign, Suryakumar was announced as the next T20I skipper for India.

Shastri believes Suryakumar can prosper as India’s T20I captain, but has warned the 33-year-old that he will need to quickly work out how to juggle India’s bevy of bowling options.

Speaking on the latest episode of The ICC Review, Shastri suggested that working out the strengths and limitations of his bowlers and how to set the field for each individual will be the most difficult task for the new skipper.

“One thing that he (Suryakumar) will have to learn from his side, is what are the strengths of his bowlers and what are their limitations,” Shastri said as quoted by ICC.

“I never say a bowler has a weakness, I say a limitation, and then there are strengths. And then focus on the right things and set fields accordingly. I think that is what he will have to learn,” the former head coac said.

Suryakumar has previous experience as captain, having led India in T20I series against Australia at home and South Africa away following last year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in Rohit’s absence. Additionally, he has occasionally captained at the domestic level for Mumbai.

Shastri thinks Suryakumar can excel as India’s T20I captain and expects to see the star batter adapt his dynamic batting skills to the newly-appointed role.

“We know he is street smart…he is one of the best T20 players in the world at the moment,” Shastri said.

“He is a match-winner on his own, walks into the team day in, day out in that format of the game on his own steam, so I think it is not a bad idea at all.

“I think it will [captaincy style] be much like his personality, the way he plays the game. He will be thinking very quickly and the fact that he knows all these players, even the senior players, I think he will be in a great position to handle the team,” Shastri concluded.

India’s tour of Sri Lanka will kick-off with a three-match T20I series, followed by a three-match ODI series. The Pallekele International Stadium will be hosting the T20I leg of the series, while the R Premadasa is getting to host the 50-over matches.

The three ODIs will be held on August 2, August 4, and August 7.

Both teams will be taking to the field with new head coaches. While legendary all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya has been named as the interim head coach for Lankan Lions, it will also be the first assignment for former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir as the head coach, succeeding T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid.

India’s last tour of Sri Lanka for a bilateral white-ball series came back in July 2021, with Dravid coaching the Shikhar Dhawan-led side. India won the ODI series 2-1, while Sri Lanka secured the T20I series by the same margin.

T20I Squad for Sri Lanka series: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj.

ODI Squad for Sri Lanka series: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.