Suryakumar Yadav’s Exit Marks the End of a Remarkable Late-Bloomer Chapter
Why did Suryakumar Yadav not retire? This is something doing the rounds on social media. A fair question to ask if you aren’t Surya. And if you are, a question completely out of bounds. It is his career and his decision. It is his self-belief and entirely his call. Surya must have believed he had the game. In fact, he still has the game. He was available, but the lack of runs forced the selectors to look beyond him. It is all very fair.
The selectors had given him a long rope and he wanted to play on. Now, it was the selectors’ call and they have taken it. To expect Surya to retire is unfair and unreasonable. At no point did he believe that the game had gone away from him. For some of us who have seen him at his best just a few months ago, it is hard to believe he wasn’t able to score runs. But that’s sport and that’s why it is real, not reel, and cruel at times.
Surya will always remain a very interesting case study. Anyone who has followed his career closely will say that he got his opportunity late. For at least a couple of seasons, he scored loads of runs in domestic cricket but was denied a national call-up. He barged open the door and, once he did, there was no looking back. He got better as a T20 player and, over a period, dominated the game, playing key knocks for India in different parts of the world. Leadership too did not come easy to him. Many believed it should have been Hardik Pandya who succeeded Rohit Sharma. But with injuries and all, the selectors believed it ought to be Surya.
As captain, Surya literally won what there was to win. He won multiple bilateral series, the Asia Cup and also the World Cup. He won close to 85 per cent of the matches he led India as captain. And yet, he had to give way as captain and player. That is why cricket is regarded as the most individual of all team games and, unless you score runs as a batter or pick up wickets as a bowler, nothing can guarantee you a place in the team.
Was it the pressures of captaincy that got to Surya? Was he unable to manage both? Was it that the batter in Surya was sacrificed at the altar of captaincy? While we will never have definitive answers to some of these questions, suffice it to say that here was someone who waited for his turn and then forced open the door to the national team. Thereafter, he did all he could and was eventually the captain who led India to a home World Cup trophy.
As the limelight shifts to Shreyas Iyer and Surya is left alone and overlooked, no one can take his achievements away from him. He will forever be the first captain to have won a home T20 World Cup and one who led India to three wins against Pakistan in two weeks at the Asia Cup. As he is left to recalibrate, one has to say it has been a very good innings.
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