4 hours ago
5
ARTICLE AD BOX
Widely rated one of India's greatest T20I batters, Suryakumar's form has been on the wane since the team's succesful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. (PTI Photo)
India were largely clinical in their 3-1 series win over South Africa in their five-match T20I series and the fact that it came despite their captain and arguably best batter in the format being completely out of runs, as he himself put it after the third match. After the fifth T20I, Suryakumar admitted that his form remains among the few things that the team is lacking going into the 2026 T20 World Cup.
“Maybe the only thing we couldn’t quite manage was finding Surya the batter, I think he went missing somewhere! (smiles) But he’ll be back stronger. As a team, I’m really happy,” Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation.
“Whenever we were in trouble, someone always put their hand up and pulled us through. As captain, that’s very satisfying with the way this series went for us,” he added.
Widely rated one of India’s greatest T20I batters, Suryakumar’s form has been on the wane since the team’s succesful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. While the post-tournament dip in 2024, which was also when he took over as India’s permanent captain in the format, was seen as a temporary one due to his performance in the 2025 IPL, this year has ended up being the worst in the 35-year-old’s career by some margin.
Suryakumar has scored just 218 runs in 19 innings at a paltry average of 13.62 and strike rate of 123.16 with no half-centuries to his name. Contrast that with last year, which was previously seen as a dip for him, in which he scored 429 runs in 17 innings at an average of 26.81 and a strike rate of 151.59 with four half-centuries.
On Friday, Suryakumar’s forgettable 2025 was squared off by him falling after scoring five runs in seven balls. However, his wicket became a distant memory for South Africa as Hardik Pandya replaced him and went berzerk. Pandya ended up scoring his half-century in just 16 balls, the second fastest for an Indian in men’s T20Is and was dismissed on 63 in 25 balls. His 105-run partnership for the fourth wicket off just 44 balls with Tilak Varma propelled India to a score of 231/5 and that assault ended up being the difference for the hosts as South Africa managed to get themselves to a score of 201/8 in reply.
English (US) ·