Dubai,sep 29
Following his side’s Asia Cup win over arch-rivals Pakistan, Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav spoke on “game-changer” opener Abhishek Sharma and looking forward to the next few months of T20I cricket action, including the World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, which could define his legacy as a T20I cricketer. Having already shattered plenty of records in T20I cricket, Suryakumar registered his first major feather in his cap with the T20I Asia Cup win by beating Pakistan by five wickets in a tense title clash at Dubai on Wednesday. Alongside the feared spin bowling trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy, it was opener Abhishek Sharma’s fearless hitting that proved to be a point of difference between India and the others. He managed a chart-topping 314 runs in six innings with three fifties, averaging 44.85 and striking at 200, having the second-best T20I tournament by an Indian after Virat Kohli’s 319-run campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014.With a five-match T20I series in October-November in Australia, five T20Is against South Africa at home in December and five T20Is against New Zealand at home in January 2026, Team India will now look to test itself, its combinations and youngsters against some of the world’s best T20I teams ahead of the T20 WC 2026, which will start in early 2026.Speaking about the legacy-defining next few months of T20I cricket, Suryakumar said to Boria Majumdar on Revsportz, “Now you are putting a lot of pressure on me. However, we are really looking forward to Australia, the T20Is we have, and then 10 more 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 will have a lot of characters.
