Surya Kumar Yadav is playing for India in the Cricket World Cups from 2021. But his most memorable contribution is the gem he offered in the presser ahead of the match against South Africa on Saturday.
Asked if India will play Sanju Samson, Surya smiled condescendingly and asked, So you’re saying we’ll play the toy instead of Abhishek? (Should I play him instead of Abhishek Sharma?)”
He then mocked the interviewer for suggesting that Samson could play at No. 3. “Before Tilak?” his smile widened.
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The next day, India lost to South Africa. The defeat took place as if from a script. The bowling alley was opened by a part-time extraordinaire. India lost the opening match by a duck – for the fourth time in five games. Abhishek fought like a dwarf with a bat broom handle. And Tilak was caught attempting a shot that had no business at that moment, in this situation, against this delivery. The horrors of India Ahmedabad got a new addition on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
When India next face Zimbabwe, Surya’s smug confidence will be replaced by humility. Tough decisions will have to be made. If management doesn’t believe in dogged stubbornness, the top order will have to be reshuffled. Abhishek and Tilak Verma slots will have to be reassessed. Washington Sundar’s role will have to be questioned. And Surya’s World Cup legacy will have to be scanned.
But the biggest concern is this: who are you playing before Abhishek and Tilak? The problem is not that India has too many options. The thing is, they have almost none. The bench has only one specialist batsman – the horribly inconsistent Samson and one all-rounder – the horribly unlucky Axar Patel.
Axar puzzle
Start with Axar. Here is a cricketer who has done everything asked of him and more in the last two years. He bats with purpose and clarity, not with the reckless ambition of a lower-order slugger, but with the measured aggression of someone who understands match situations.
He turns a left arm that asks real questions on slow surfaces. Field as if his livelihood depended on it. In the IPL, in bilateral series, in every audition the selectors could stage, Axar turned up and delivered. And yet, here at a World Cup where India’s middle order is creaking and their spin options look weak, he is on the bench. Unhurt. Not out of shape. Just left out.
What more does Axar need to do to earn the lasting trust of India’s leadership? (Photo: PTI)
Even in the games where Axar played, he was sent out to bat in the lower order. Sundar, who was favored over him ostensibly because of the left-handers in the opposition line-up, did not even get his full quota of overs. What exactly is the logic behind systematically eroding Axar’s authority and trust?
The spin dilemma
The highlight of the Gautam Gambhir era is India’s shocking inability to play spin. Teams dismantled India on Indian pitches using part-time spinners. Convinced of a crack in India’s batting, the opponents launch an attack with the spinners and the Indian batsmen fall into their trap.
The deeper problem is that no one in management seems willing to name the weakness, let alone address it. The technical deficiency – stiff hands, stiff legs, an instinct to break through the rope rather than use spin – has been visible for months. It was flagged by opposition coaches, dissected by commentators and repeatedly demonstrated on the pitch. And yet the reaction from the Indian camp was a combination of selective amnesia and artificial confidence. Shivam Dube was India’s only workable solution to their spin problems. (Photo: PTI)
It is here that the Gambhir era finds itself at a crossroads. There is value in the aggressive, uncompromising identity he has sought to build. But aggression without adaptability is just stubbornness in a different guise.
A deeper illusion
In the run-up to the World Cup, this line-up looked invincible. Perhaps it was an illusion created on home turf. But subtle hints were already there.
In bilateral matches, Samson consistently failed. Abhishek was often looking for ducks. Tilak was out of order and therefore not available for assessment. Abhishek and Tilak have had forgettable World Cup campaigns so far. (Photo: PTI)
But now the fog is dissolving. The Gambhir era inherited from the Rohit-Dravid chapter – a young, aggressive, fast-scoring batting line-up, and doubled down on the philosophy of attack as an identity. In essence, there is nothing wrong with that. T20 cricket rewards aggression. But aggression is a tool, not a strategy.
India’s top order, as currently constituted, has almost no second gear. There is only more of the same, with increasing risk. Against South Africa, the partnership India needed never materialized as no one in the top six is currently equipped to build one. They are all accelerators. There is no engine.
Kohli pillow
In the Rohit-Dravid era, the team had a plan B. It was called Virat Kohli. This is not nostalgia. It is documented history.
Kohli, at his best in T20 internationals, was the rare batsman who could be the anchor that absorbed the new ball and the pacer that dismantled the death bowling. He managed to come in at the fall of an early wicket and didn’t play a false shot for three overs as the innings settled around him. Then, when the platform was set, he could move. The current Indian team lacks Kohli-cool in the run. (Photo: Getty)
Rohit Sharma, for all his genius, was never an anchor in T20 but a destroyer. But the team could afford it with Kohli behind him, ready to build what Rohit’s departure threatened to destroy. That balance is no longer there.
No one in this Indian unit can rebuild. Not reliably. Not under pressure. Not when the opposition has a plan and the conditions favor patience over aggression.
At the same venue, in the 2024 World Cup, India were in a similar position against the same opponents. Two batsmen saved them that night. Both were absent on Sunday.
The journalist who asked Samson was not rude. He was doing his job. He saw that this team’s top order was fragile, its bench thin and the margin for error razor thin.
He deserved a straight answer. Maybe he’s having the last laugh.
Sandipan Sharma, our guest writer, likes to write about cricket, film, music and politics. They believe they are connected.
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– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
February 23, 2026
