Fault in Our SKY: Performative Vain, Form’s a Pain, the State of India’s Captain

Suryakumar Yadav believes he is not out of form. Except, almost every other batter is in a better form than him.

Conversations around Suryakumar Yadav's selection are now becoming unavoidable.

(Photo: X)

In an age-old folklore of shifting blame, it is said that a man charged with murder once proclaimed his innocence by insisting, “I didn’t kill him. My gun did.” A spin-off version features a dog owner attempting to absolve himself after his pet bit someone, by saying “But I didn’t bite him. My dog did.”

These incidents, in all probability, never happened. But for a laugh, what is the concern if it gets regurgitated every now and then?

There is, however, significant concern, if a similar blame-dodging attempt comes from the captain of the Indian men’s T20I cricket team.

Is Form an Illusion, or Do We Have the Definition Wrong?

Since the dawn of sport, form has been regarded as an athlete’s primary currency. In football, a striker is deemed out of form if he stops scoring. In cricket, a bowler is out of form if wickets dry up. By the same logic, a batter without runs is, quite simply, out of form.

Despite having scored merely 238 runs since November 2024, at an average of 13.28 — a number that might be rivalled by the count of interviews he has given since winning the Asia Cup — Suryakumar Yadav is, by his own admission, not out of form.

Sunday offered another visual reinforcement to the contrary. He scored 12 off 11 in the third T20I against South Africa. Following the match, he claimed:

I've been batting beautifully in the nets. When the runs have to come, they'll come. I’m not out of form, but definitely out of runs.

Suryakumar Yadav

It was the 21^st consecutive inning where Yadav did not add to his T20I half-century tally of 14, and the sixth consecutive inning where he was dismissed under 25.

Chasing a target of merely 118 runs, and with the opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill accumulating 60 runs, Yadav had the ideal opportunity to get runs under his belt without inviting any pressure. Instead, he promoted Tilak Varma, in a move that received criticism from former players, including Mohammad Kaif.

When confidence is down, there are second thoughts, whether I should go out to bat or not. But you have to be brave. You can’t hide in the dugout if you want to make a comeback. You have to face that challenge to rise from that phase. Suryakumar Yadav has done that but he had a good chance in the third T20I. When he did come out to bat, there were hardly runs to be scored. Even if he was not out, he couldn’t have made more than 20 runs. If he batted at number three, there was a chance Surya could have made at least 40 runs.

Mohammad Kaif, on YouTube

Numbers Don't Lie

That India went on to win comfortably served as little more than an opaque papering over of cracks. Much like the Asia Cup, where Yadav will be remembered more for his relentless invocation of braggadocio and performative rhetoric than for his contributions with the bat. India’s triumph owed largely to the yawning gulf in quality between the defending world champions and their subcontinental rivals. Beyond the title won and the trophy never presented, Yadav’s tally of 72 runs across seven matches ranked below that of Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Yadav’s last Test half-century was in October 2024, where he scored a 35-ball 75 against Bangladesh. Since then, he has the worst return among the players from a Test-playing nation who have played a minimum of 15 matches whilst batting at number 3 or 4.

Least T20I runs scored since November 2024 (batting position 3-4, minimum 15 matches):

• Anjar Tadarus (Indonesia) — 91 runs in 15 matches

• Suryakumar Yadav — 239 runs in 23 matches

• Hammad Mirza — 240 runs in 16 matches

• Rohit Paudel (Nepal) — 306 runs in 15 matches

• Nizakat Khan (Hong Kong) — 333 runs in 21 matches

Lowest T20I average since November 2024 (batting position 3-4, minimum 15 matches):

• Anjar Tadarus — 8.27

• Suryakumar Yadav — 13.27

• Hammad Mirza — 15.00

• Ramon Sealy (Cayman Islands) — 18.21

• Daniel Gumyusenge (Rwanda) — 18.26

Least T20I runs by a captain since November 2024 (minimum 10 matches):

• Austin Lazarus (Thailand) — 128 runs in 10 matches

• Nicholas Kirton (Canada) — 163 runs in 10 matches

• Suryakumar Yadav — 239 runs in 23 matches

• Vasu Saini (Romania) — 254 runs in 11 matches

• Ahmer Bin (Bahrain) — 257 runs in 14 matches

Least T20I Runs Scored by an Indian Captain in Multi-Nation Tournaments:

• Suryakumar Yadav — 72 runs (2025 Asia Cup)

• MS Dhoni — 85 runs (2010 T20 World Cup)

• MS Dhoni — 86 (2009 T20 World Cup)

• MS Dhoni — 89 (2016 T20 World Cup)

• Rohit Sharma — 116 (2022 T20 World Cup)

Did you know that the likes of Cayman Islands, Rwanda, Romania, Bahrain and Indonesia played cricket? Courtesy of Yadav, now you do. Credit where credit’s due.

Conversations Are Unavoidable

Given India’s extraordinary depth in the shortest format, they could win an Asia Cup with nine men, and would still begin as favourites for a T20 World Cup with a second-string side.

But should Gautam Gambhir’s team aspire to perfection, difficult conversations around Yadav are unavoidable ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup. The nation may endure another deluge of hollow post-match interviews, but not another prolonged spell of a captain who is out of form. Or, as he would have it, merely out of runs.