Boria Majumdar in Dubai
Though he couldn’t perform as expected with the bat, Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy was integral to India’s seven-match unbeaten run to clinch the Asia Cup. Three of those wins came in pressure-cooker ties against Pakistan. In this exclusive interview with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz’s editor-in-chief, Surya spoke of managing the pressure and how unique the circumstances were surrounding this tournament.
Boria: Beating Pakistan three times in a span of 15 days. No Indian captain has done that. You must be special.
Surya: [Laughs] Yeah, winning 3-0 was excellent. Incredible show from the boys. They delivered what I expected from them. All the talks that we have had with them – right here in this team room that we are sitting in – have all worked and I’m very happy. Never played them three times in a single tournament. It was destined to happen.
Boria: Would you still say: “it’s not a rivalry”?
Surya: Taking about it again and again will degrade its real essence. But yes, during the course of the tournament, I think we played good cricket, handled the pressure situations better with the bat and the ball. That’s why we won it.
Boria: I have never seen anything like the things that happened surrounding the tournament, including the act with the trophy. It was a very bizarre tournament.
Surya: I think it spoke volumes. Our main focus was to win matches and play good cricket. It doesn’t really matter if the trophy came or not. Smiles on the faces of people back home is our trophy. What matters is that my country is happy and we are celebrating. We have billboards in our name that we are the Asia Cup champions. What more do you need?
Boria: Did you not feel pressure with the circumstances and you being the captain of the team?
Surya: I won’t lie, I was extremely tense. If I was wearing a heart-rate monitor, then it would have marked 150-plus [beats a minute]. The game was going up and down and that further elevated the tension. I asked one of the coaches how they deal with the pressure sitting upfront and witnessing it all the time. I can walk out and walk in from the dressing room, but they can’t. To which they replied that it’s our job to keep the dugout and the dressing room relaxed, so that you guys can go out there and perform. I thought to myself: I wish I could do this too.
I myself was walking constantly inside the dressing room after the 11th or 12th over.
Boria: 113-1 to 146 all out. You turn matches around like magic and are seen as a very proactive leader. What did you tell your bowlers in that huddle, and Kuldeep Yadav before he took those four wickets in two overs?
Surya: I personally believe that batsmen score runs and win matches, but bowlers win tournaments. So I told them that “you guys have been in this situation before – be it for franchise, for nation or for your state – so you all know how pull a match towards yourself with good bowling, good energy, body language and staying calm”. Because staying calm and relaxed is the only thing that makes you perform well under pressure. And the last six to eight overs that Shivam (Dube), Kuldeep (Yadav), Varun(Chakaravarthy) and Tilak (Varma) bowled changed the course of the game. The batting hiccups were absorbed by Sanju (Samson), Tilak (Varma), Rinku (Singh) in the second half. The stage I am at right now in T20, I feel it’s very important to make and prepare good players.
Boria: You have dedicated your match fees to the Indian armed Forces. Thoughts behind that?
Surya: The thought came all of a sudden when I was giving this whole series of events that happened throughout the course of this tournament a thought. I was having my food in the dressing room and it was very peaceful out there, so this was the thought that came to my mind. What more can I do about the things that are in my control? When I took a stand after the first game, similar thoughts were already there in my mind, so I just acted upon it when I could.
Boria: BCCI has protected its players like anything, unlike other boards who act childish and put pressure on the team et cetera. Your thoughts on that?
Surya: Absolutely. I think it’s such a big board, so many players, such a big country. I think it’s not that difficult for them, but the support they provide us is incredible. There is a saying that we need somebody standing behind us to succeed, but BCCI actually has stood ahead of us and supported us. It is our duty to pay them back by playing some good cricket and winning matches.
When I was injured recently and at the Centre of Excellence [in Bangalore], I was not able to walk properly. I toured the whole place in a buggy and realised that it is the right time for cricket in India to touch newer heights. Indian cricket has already achieved so much, but it’s time to do it consistently. It was a hurdle that we crossed in the 2024 T20 World Cup, then Champions Trophy, and Asia Cup. Every year, there is an ICC tournament. So, if you see the facility properly, you’ll realise how every player will deliver on the ground. Players come in every two weeks to practice, to use the facility. You can see how it is that they’re performing in the tournaments, now that this facility has been made for the players. We played T20 after a gap, and nobody looked out of touch, so that’s how it is going.
Boria: As a captain, how to handle the situation and your young players when there are provocative actions coming from the other end?
Surya: I think there is a difference between the two sides. None of us at any point have shown any inappropriate gesture, because we wanted to play this game with dignity. We just wanted to give a nice statement out there while playing a good brand of cricket, irrespective of the result – which can go either way when you are playing. Back from the match, when one is talking, there should be a feeling of happiness thinking that they have given all the effort possible at the ground. I keep telling my boys that let’s not get deviated from the game. Follow the situation and the game, keeping emotions aside.
Boria: What about a person like Gautam (Gambhir) who is so nationalistic and has admitted on a number of occasions that he would have loved to be a part of the Indian army if not playing cricket?
Surya: My relationship with Gauti Bhai (Gautam Gambhir) is that of a younger and older brother. We have played together a lot at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). We know each other very closely. I learned so many things from him. I have played under Rohit (Sharma), but I have learned some tricks of the trade from him playing for KKR. He has been there, felt everything, so he knows how things go in a player’s mind. How the preparations are to be done for these tournaments, and how to push the player forward and protect them as well.
So, whenever I look at the dugout, and he is there, he has something for me because the game looks completely different from outside. There are so many things on my mind when I am on the ground – about field placement, who to bowl et cetera, so after every one or two overs, I look at him and whatever he signals, I carry it out without thinking. That is the level of trust we have in each other. Unfortunately, we missed Hardik (Pandya) in this game and an extra batter in form to support after Abhishek (Sharma) and Shubman (Gill), just in case. It was Hardik who suggested we go with Shivam Dube, and had the faith in him, so I did it without further discussion. It worked out so well and he (Shivam) didn’t even look like he was under much pressure. Made it look effortless.
Boria: You have been playing cricket for close to two decades now. Was it the most politically charged, difficult and tough tournament that you have played so far?
Surya: Yes, I think it’s one of the toughest that I have played in a very long time, although the T20 World Cup was also challenging. I have been a part of Asia Cups, but I didn’t play in 2023. This was not always too challenging mentally, because we were ready to take on any team in this tournament. But the games were so quick, one after the other, having minimum gaps. All the teams were giving us a good time on the ground, playing so well, so at the end of the day, it’s sweet that we won. But it was one of the toughest, for sure.
Boria: It’s Australia now, and then a few other T20Is. The next five or six months will define the legacy of Suryakumar Yadav, going into the tournament [T20 World Cup] as defending captain. Your thoughts?
Surya: [Laughs] Now you are putting a lot of pressure on me. But yeah, we’re really looking forward to Australia, the T20s that we have, then 10 in India after that. So we will get a fair idea of what our team should look like. There might be new faces, or people with amazing performances, but during the course of the next 15 T20 games, I think we’ll have a lot of characters.
Boria: Abhishek Sharma was doing some unreal hitting and playing book cricket throughout the tournament. Thoughts on that?
Surya: Sometimes, you have to let go of people who completely change the course of the game. I’ve seen him before he played for India, in franchise cricket. He’s a game-changer who should be left alone. Game-changers know what to do, and what outcome it will have, hence everyone around him gets a lot of freedom. That fearless attitude [passes on] to other players, to just go out and enjoy. They can make a difference, make an impact – bat 15 balls, make 25-30 runs, do the job for the team. It is going to be a complete team performance if you see the 15 T20s we have coming. I keep telling the boys that, sometimes, a 10-ball 15 or a 5-ball 10 is equal to a 50, and is very important.
Boria: I like this thing about your captaincy – you always have answers when a question arises and protect your players when needed. Is that the culture you’re trying to create us a captain?
Surya: I’ve always been a character who likes to protect everyone in a team and team environment. I believe if you stand beside someone who is doing well, they will be happy. But when you stand beside someone who is not in a good space, that is the time when you need a leader around. I have always said that I don’t want to be a captain, I want to be a leader. So when you support them when things are not going well, and then the player is on the top, you’ll see the difference.
Boria: How did you all celebrate going into the dressing room?
Surya: We got together, we spoke about the tournament, about who the impact player was, who took all the responsibility et cetera. We had the medal ceremony as well. We have made it a rule now that all the support staff from the sports science team – all the guys behind the scenes, who get the batters, bowlers and all-rounders ready for the game – will deliver the medals to the players with a sweet speech. Gauti Bhai has made this a rule now. You must have seen the speech by Raghu Bhai (Raghavendra Dwivedi), so different sorts of characters come into the light because of this. For example, the player who has not got the player of the match award gets an impact-player medal in the dressing room, and has to speak for five minutes on how they felt.
Like, it was Shivam Dube this time, who bowled with the new ball and hasn’t done it a lot previously. He batted when it was needed the most. So we were together, and I told the boys: “Let’s enjoy the taste of this victory. Let’s understand what happened in the last 15 days, what we did special, that we achieved something like this. Let’s see what we can do better to become the best team because even after winning, there are a lot of areas where we would have to improve every time we get an opportunity.”
Also thanked them for coping with me on the ground. Though I’m there for everyone, at the same time I have to be very real with them and tell them the truth, irrespective of whether someone likes it or not. I cannot keep it inside me, even though the player doesn’t talk to me for a day or two. When the player comes back to you on the third day, they realise that it was for their betterment. I like to keep everything clear. You have to say something, just say it on my face and finish it. Don’t keep it inside, as that doesn’t make a good team environment. All best friends off the field are very dangerous when on the field.
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