India hit hard but Suryakumar Yadav rediscovers love, passion for cricket

Getting kicked out of the team you once led is never easy. Finding the motivation to pick yourself up and fight your way back can be even harder. For Suryakumar Yadav, the blow was particularly painful. He captained India to a successful defense of the T20 World Cup title, but found himself out of the national set-up a few months later.

A long, lean patch with a bat eventually cost him his spot on the side. The BCCI has decided to move on from the former captain ahead of the tour of England, with Shreyas Iyer taking over the lead responsibility.

The drop from leading a World Cup winning team to watching from the sidelines took its toll. But Suryakumar is now starting to find his feet again, rediscovering the love and passion that first brought him to the game.

Speaking to the media at the T20 Mumbai League Celebration of Champions event, as quoted by PTI, the former India captain admitted that the period after India’s World Cup triumph was particularly challenging.

“It was a bit difficult after winning the T20 World Cup. I don’t want to run away from that fact. If you are not honest with yourself, it is very difficult to lead a happy life,” Suryakumar said during the T20 Mumbai League to celebrate the champions event here.

However, life off the cricket field brought him a new source of happiness. Suryakumar revealed that becoming a father this year helped take his mind off the disappointment of missing out on the Indian team.

“To be very honest, it (not being part of the team) was very difficult. But at the same time, I was blessed with a baby girl during the IPL in May. The focus completely shifted towards her. The last few months since she was born have been very beautiful,” he said.

Over time, the Mumbai batsman began to turn his attention back to cricket. Rather than dwelling on his international failure, he began to look back at the things that had supported his journey from the start. And now that he has 113 T20I appearances under his belt, he is hoping for more to come in Indian colours.

“However, the first two months were very difficult. But then I thought, why not go back to thinking about how I was before?

“When I started cricket, all I thought about was playing age-group cricket for Mumbai and eventually representing Mumbai in first-class cricket,” he said.

BACK TO NORMAL

The journey to reinvention was not one that Suryakumar undertook alone. The 36-year-old revealed that the conversation with his wife Devisha Shetty proved to be an important turning point. Her advice was simple: get back to the mindset of a teenager who dreamed of representing Mumbai and playing the game he loved.

“I sat down and thought about all these things and started talking to my wife. She said the same thing – I needed to bring back the love and passion for the game that I had when I was a 15-year-old boy who wanted to represent Mumbai in under-15 cricket,” said Suryakumar.

This message seems to have struck a chord. Instead of letting his failure in India define him, Suryakumar went back to basics and focused on training, enjoying the game and rediscovering his competitive edge.

“So that’s what I started thinking about and now I’m following the same things I did 10-15 years ago. I’m training again, following the same passion and the same love for the game.”

“Everything is back to normal now. When you start to think about it and focus on playing this sport, you want to do well for your team and your family. Things change completely and that’s what I’m doing right now.”

“The main goal is what I was thinking before, to win matches for Mumbai and win the championship for Mumbai,” he added.

For Suryakumar, the opportunity to put this renewed way of thinking into practice is not far off. He is all set to lead Mumbai v the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophywith the domestic T20 competition offering him a platform to express himself.

A strong campaign could bring him back into selectors’ conversations, but for now his immediate focus seems much simpler. The man who once dreamed of playing for Mumbai as a 15-year-old returns to the same joy.

And that is perhaps the most important first step on his way back.

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