The plan was as clear as an open book. Despite India rollicking every team, winning bilateral after bilateral, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earmarked Shubman Gill as their next T20I captain. Suryakumar Yadav, who took the baton from Rohit Sharma post the T20 World Cup 2024, also knew once Gill came into the side as his deputy ahead of the Asia Cup 2025.
Already India’s Test and ODI captain, BCCI wanted Gill to be the face of all three formats. A typical Virat Kohli successor. But all of these plans have now taken a backseat. When India’s T20 World Cup 2026 was announced at a presser in Mumbai on Saturday, the management pressed a reset button. All the efforts made to slot in Gill just to phase out Suryakumar went into limbo.
Failure of project Shubman Gill
Ahead of the Asia Cup 2025, India spoilt a settled opening combination of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson by replacing the latter with Gill. Not just that, Gill was made the vice-captain, with India’s one eye set on life post the T20 World Cup 2026. Almost every pundit and fan criticised the move, as Samson, being a keeper-opener, solved many plots. But Gill was entrusted with the chance.
Despite not settling in India’s ultra-aggressive approach and walking away from his natural style of play, Gill failed to settle in. Match after match, he failed, mounting pressure on the selector and head coach’s choice. As many as 15 innings passed but Gill couldn’t hit a single fifty. Gill’s return to India’s T20I setup after the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli was meant to bring stability at the top. Instead, it has gone the other way.
His average has dipped below 25, and his strike rate has failed to cross 140, resulting in one of the biggest blunders of Ajit Agarkar’s reign as BCCI’s chief selector. The BCCI wanted Gill to succeed Suryakumar, who is now on the other side of his 30s. With his superb leadership skills in Tests and potentially in ODIs, the plan was great and Gill’s talent surely screams, ‘I am a three-format star.’ But as fate would have it, this T20I team was better off without him and he got dropped just before the World Cup. It is not Gill’s fault but there’s a better opener currently that suits India’s style of play and that is none other than Samson.
Who after Suryakumar Yadav post T20 World Cup 2026?
Firstly, let’s make it clear that Suryakumar Yadav is highly unlikely to captain India in the format irrespective of the result of the T20 World Cup 2026. Although he has been a great captain, enjoying a win percentage of almost 80. However, from the outside, the focus seems to always fall on Gautam Gambhir, who is reportedly taking all the huge calls.
The major concern around Suryakumar is, however, his awful batting form. It is as clear as daylight that he is a much better player when playing as a specialist batter and not as a captain. In 2025, Suryakumar finished with just 218 runs from 19 T20I innings at an average of 13.62 and a strike rate of 123.16. He did not score a single half-century across the calendar year.
Suryakumar Yadav T20I stats
| Inns | Runs | HS | Avg | SR | 100 | 50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | 91 | 2771 | 117 | 35.98 | 163.96 | 4 | 21 |
| Not as Captain | 58 | 2040 | 117 | 43.40 | 168.17 | 3 | 17 |
| Full-Time captain | 26 | 431 | 75 | 18.73 | 146.1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 18 | 213 | 47 | 14.20 | 125.29 | 0 | 0 |
Now, as per the Times of India, the BCCI will be looking at a captaincy candidate post the T20 World Cup. The board is perhaps going to take some tough and bold calls irrespective of how Suryakumar performs at the mega ICC event. “The board and the selectors are bracing for many more tough calls post the T20 World Cup. The team management’s initial plan around leadership has fallen through. They have to go back to grooming another leader after the T20 World Cup even if Surya has a good tournament,” a source told TOI.
With the trackway of getting Gill into the T20I captaincy role derailing, it will be quite difficult for the management to earmark India’s next leader in the format. If Suryakumar successfully becomes the first captain to defend a T20 World Cup, the emotional sense could ask BCCI to continue with him. However, just like we saw, this Indian management is a bit future-orientated. Even Rohit Sharma was dropped as ODI captain despite winning the ODI Champions Trophy.
Hence, it would not be so surprising to move ahead of SKY as well. But there’s no clear successor right now. Axar Patel is the vice-captain but he isn’t likely to take the reins. The likes of Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Kuldeep Yadav are amateurs when it comes to leadership. However, one name that would do justice to the role is Shreyas Iyer, who even Robin Uthappa bats for. But that ship is still three months away, so we can just wait as of now.
India squad for T20 World Cup 2026
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel (VC), Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh
