India’s new T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, has addressed a recent comment from Gautam Gambhir.
Before assuming the role of Team India’s head coach, Gambhir expressed regret over not recognizing Yadav’s full potential as a batsman. Yadav played under Gambhir’s captaincy at Kolkata Knight Riders from 2014 to 2017. Despite delivering several notable performances during these years, he did not emerge as a prominent figure at that time.
Yadav’s career took a significant turn when he joined Mumbai Indians in 2018. He quickly established himself as one of the league’s top batters and made his Team India debut in 2021. As Yadav’s success grew with Mumbai Indians, Gambhir regretted not having seen his true potential earlier.
“A leader’s role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential,” Gautam Gambhir had told Sportskeeda in May this year.
“And the reason was down to combinations. You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav responds to Gautam Gambhir’s comments:
As Suryakumar Yadav was addressing the media ahead of the first T20I against Sri Lanka, one of the journalists asked him about Gambhir’s comments about him. In reply, the India captain came up with a reply that left the reporters in splits.
“To abhi karlenge pura potential ko use (Let him make the most of it now),” said Suryakumar.
Speaking further, the 33-year-old opened up about the close bond he shares with Gambhir. Although Suryakumar parted ways with KKR in 2018 just like Gambhir did, both of them have remained in touch over the years.
“Our bond has been special since 2014, and it’s been 10 years now. In 2018, we went to two different IPL franchises but remained in touch. We kept discussing performances, matches, and where I could do better.
“So the process of learning continued, and it remained a very special bond for me. In the last 3-4 days, we haven’t talked much, but he knows if I want to say something and vice versa and he understands me even if I don’t say anything. So, I’m really excited,” said Suryakumar.
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