Suryakumar Yadav suddenly looks alarmingly lethal for a batsman who was once hailed as a modern-day T20 wizard. The hustle, the bold angles, the 360-degree dominance – none of this has been seen in quite some time. It has now been 13 long months since he last picked up the bat for a T20I fifty. As India edge ever closer to the T20 World Cup with just nine matches in hand, the form of one of cricket’s cleanest hitters is a puzzle that the team management needs to sort out – fast.
Tuesday night in Cuttack was another reminder of his waning fluency. A scratched 12 from 11, a poorly timed strike and a slow, almost introspective walk back after Lungi Ngidi cut his stay short. India eventually bowled out South Africa by 101 runs to maintain their stellar run – unbeaten in a bilateral T20I series since August 2023 under his leadership. His captaincy remains unquestioned. But the batter is clearly looking for it – hard.
So what’s holding him back? The man who once tinkered with lengths and field settings, who turned hitting sixes into a casual habit, now seems caught between rhythm and uncertainty. Has the constant shuffling of his batting position disrupted his pace? Does the weight of leadership interfere with his freedom? Or is it simply the unforgiving nature of T20 cricket to catch up?
What is undeniable is that India need their Suryakumar back – the disruptor, the enforcer, the bowler the bowlers hate. Because if India are to dream big at the FIFA World Cup, the pulse of their middle order cannot be out of tune for long.
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TOO RANDOM UPLOADS
A closer look at the timeline of Suryakumar’s slump reveals a pattern that India can no longer ignore. The constant tossing between No. 3 and No. 4 has turned the once settled role into a revolving door. He managed just 222 runs in his last 19 T20I innings – a surprising return for someone who redefined batting in the format. Even more troubling is the strikeout count: 120. A number so far removed from his career mark of 164.05 that it seems like it belongs to a completely different player.
12 innings at No. 3. Seven at No. 4. And only two knocks that came close to his usual standards – a gutsy 47 against Pakistan and 39 against Australia – both from the No. 3 position. This suggests that where he bats matters. India has adopted a flexible template that promotes adaptability and compliance.
But if that philosophy is clipping the wings of their most inventive white-ball batsman – and their captain – then perhaps the experiment is over. Sometimes structure unlocks genius. And India needs Suryakumar’s genius more than ever.
PERMANENT NO.3?
Even from the outside, the call for clarity is getting louder. Former India batsman Robin Uthappa was unequivocal in his opinion: Suryakumar Yadav should be India’s permanent No. 3 in T20Is. The logic is straightforward – your best batter should face the most balls. And in this format, every delivery denied to Suryakumar is a potential lost boundary.
“He’s definitely a class player – a match-winner. He’s the type of player that every team would want. I believe moving up and down the batting order is not helping him. No matter what he feels, he should be at No. 3. He needs to be a permanent fixture in India, not change the order,” Uthappa told Star Sports.
Uthappa also pointed to the bigger picture of India’s middle-order conundrum. With batting of the caliber of Tilak Varma in the lineup, there is really no need to push Suryakumar down. He argued that Tilak is tailor-made for the No. 4 role – composed in a crisis, technically assured and capable of rebuilding when the first wickets collapse.
“We don’t want that to happen to a player of his calibre. You want someone like him to face the maximum number of deliveries. You want him to be in form – especially when you have an all-rounder like Tilak Varma who can take over the No.4 role and absorb the pressure when the first wickets fall,” Uthappa added.
IT’S TIME FOR SURJAKUMAR TO FIRE
It is reassuring for India that the bigger picture still looks clear. As a whole, they were formidable in the T20Is, ticking off scores with consistency and composure. There are plenty of matches left before the T20 World Cup, so there is plenty of time to fine-tune combinations without panic and rush. The batting order doesn’t look fragile either – if anything, it’s full of options.
But imagine the same lineup with Suryakumar Yadav back in full flight. The swing restored. Ramps, scoops, outrageous gap picking – all back on command. India is already a handful for any opponent. With SKY rediscovering its mojo, they are becoming something far more terrifying: a batting force capable of rewriting games in an instant.
– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
December 10, 2025
