‘India would be stupid’ – Ex-England captain makes huge statement on Suryakumar Yadav

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has expressed his genuine wish for the Indian team not to move ahead in their T20I plans without current skipper Suryakumar Yadav post the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. 

Team India are playing brilliantly under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is. He made his T20I debut in 2021 and has been an integral part of the Indian team since then. The Mumbai batter revolutionised the way the shortest format is played at the international level with his breathtaking consistency.

But him being 35 years old is not a great sign for anyone involved. Hence, there are talks going on of the Indian management moving on from him from the captaincy post-ongoing multinational event. Now, Vaughan has weighed in with his honest opinion on the issue, exclaiming his likeness for the former World No. 1 T20I batter.

“I would say India would be stupid to look beyond SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) after the T20 World Cup. I think he is a genuis,” he said on Cricbuzz.

The right-hand batter was handed over the T20I reins after the retirement of Rohit Sharma from the shortest format post 2024 T20 World Cup. And his record as T20I captain is pretty good. In 49 matches as captain, the Men in Blue have won a staggering 36 matches, signalling how well he has captained the side.

Vaughan opines on struggling Tilak Varma

After India’s disastrous loss against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, questions are being raised over Tilak Varma’s place in the playing XI. The left-hander is yet to deliver any significant performance with the bat and is struggling with low strike rate. The 51-year-old shared some pieces of advice for India’s No. 3 batter, who has struggled to get going in the twenty-team tournament.

“He would probably want his strike rate to be a bit higher. But I think when you are looking at the whole line-up, you got to have variations, you got to have consistent performers. Sometimes by being consistent, your strike rate is not quite as high as the others,” Vaughan said.

Tilak has scored 107 runs in five innings so far, but his strike rate of 118.88 is not what the team expects of him. The youngster would be looking to improve that number in the upcoming games.