Suryakumar Yadav: Conquering Fear to Propel India to Victory

India’s T20 captain, Suryakumar Yadav, highlighted on Thursday that overcoming the fear of failure in knockout games has significantly contributed to the national team’s outstanding success over the past 15 months.

Since their T20 World Cup victory in June 2024, India has claimed two ICC titles and the Asia Cup. While the Champions Trophy win in February was in the ODI format, last month Suryakumar led India to clinch its second Asia Cup title in the T20 format.

Suryakumar noted that India is enjoying the benefits of an aggressive approach to cricket.

“I believe that in the past year and a half, as we began winning championships, we’ve adopted a slightly different approach to the game. During knockout situations, we focus on overcoming the fear of failure, simply play to our strengths, give our best effort, and not worry about the outcome,” Suryakumar shared at a ‘Skyscanner’ event.

Before their triumph in Barbados in June 2024, India had not secured an ICC event for over a decade. Suryakumar attributed their success to a mental reset within the team.

“That’s the mindset and culture we’ve fostered within the team. Cricket has a long history, but after the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, we realized that we needed to adopt a new approach to win championships,” mentioned the India skipper.

Suryakumar also acknowledged Rohit Sharma’s influence in mentoring him in leadership skills.

“Our relationship is like that of brothers; we go way back. I still remember my first-class debut for Bombay in 2010-2011. Rohit was active in the domestic scene then and with the IPL’s Mumbai Indians franchise later on.

“Though I moved to KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders), when I returned to Mumbai Indians in 2018, Rohit was the captain, and that’s when the journey truly began. I learned many leadership qualities and how he managed players both on and off the field.

“When he became captain of India in T20 and ODIs, I saw how he handled significant pressures,” added Suryakumar.

Published on Oct 09, 2025.