Published: Mar 12, 2026, 03:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 12, 2026, 03:46 PM (IST)
Suryakumar Yadav, the captain of India’s T20 World Cup-winning team, faced numerous challenges during the 2026 tournament, including not only leading the team to a historic title but also handling difficult decisions and emotions behind the scenes. He became only the third Indian captain to lift the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup trophy, joining MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
In an interview, Suryakumar shared how he dealt with one tricky moment: when star all-rounder Axar Patel got really upset after being dropped for two key games.
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Axar, a regular in India’s white-ball sides, missed two matches in the 2026 T20 World Cup. He missed both the crucial Super 8 clash against South Africa and the dead rubber game against the Netherlands.
Suryakumar admitted Axar was furious and said the senior player had every right to be.
“He (Axar) was very angry – and he should have been,” Suryakumar told The Indian Express. “He’s an experienced player; he leads a franchise. He should be angry. I apologised. I told him I made a mistake and I’m sorry, but it was a call for the team. It was a hard conversation. He took it in his stride, and we talked it through the next day.”
After India suffered a big 76-run loss to South Africa in their first Super 8 match, the team was under pressure. They needed to win their last two games against Zimbabwe and West Indies to reach the semis. Axar came straight back into the XI and helped turn things around.
Suryakumar revealed the real planning for the 2026 triumph started way back in 2024, right after he took over as captain.
The team decided to move away from the approach used in 2024 and adopt a new style focused purely on winning matches. The big change? Stop chasing personal records and focus only on winning games.
“We knew the way we played the 2024 T20 World Cup – that brand of cricket – won’t work going ahead. So, we decided: from hereon we will not pay attention to personal milestones, the goal is to win games,” he said.
“If you noticed, till the semifinals none of our players were top run-getters or top wicket-takers. But we qualified and kept winning. Every game, every player contributed. It was very important to spread this thing like a virus in the team from the start. We planted this team culture 18 months back,” he added.
That team-first approach ultimately paid off. No one chased individual stats, everyone chipped in when it mattered, and India went all the way to lift the cup.
For all latest updates of T20 World Cup 2026 you can visit: https://www.cricketcountry.com/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2026/
