Suryakumar Yadav set to lead India in five-T20I series against Australia after World Cup, claims report

Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead India in their five-match T20I series against Australia that starts days after their heart-breaking defeat against Australia in the 2023 ICC World Cup final.

Australia bowled India out for a modest 240 before a magnificent 137 by opener Travis Head — the third by an Australian in a World Cup final — allowed them to chase the target down with six wickets and seven overs to spare to win the showpiece event for a record-extending sixth time.

The two sides, however, are set to lock horns just four days after the World Cup final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium with the first of the first T20Is taking place in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

India are yet to announce their squad with less than three days left for the series to start, but according to a report on Cricbuzz, Suryakumar Yadav will take over from the injured Hardik Pandya as India captain.

Pandya had suffered an ankle injury during India’s group match against Bangladesh in Pune during the recently-concluded World Cup. Not only did the injury — which was later revealed to be a ligament tear — rule him out of the remainder of the World Cup as well as the Australia T20Is, it has also cast a shadow over his participation in the white-ball leg of the upcoming tour of South Africa starting December.

Surya, who is India’s designated vice-captain in the shortest format, didn’t have the best of run in the World Cup after replacing Pandya in the middle-order. SKY collected just 106 runs in seven outings at an average of 17.66, the highest of which was a 47-ball 49 against England on a tough wicket in Lucknow, and could only manage 18 off 28 balls in the final against Australia.

The Mumbai Indians star will hope to make up for his underwhelming run in the World Cup with a series of strong performances in the upcoming series against Australia.

Test and ODI skipper Rohit Sharma has not been part of the T20I setup since leading the Men in Blue to the semi-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, and neither are Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, who finished at the top of the run-scorers’ and wicket-takers’ list respectively in the World Cup.

The Aussies, meanwhile, will be led by wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade with the squad featuring a number of World Cup-winners including opener Head, who was adjudged the ‘Player of the Final’.

Besides Head, senior batters David Warner and Steve Smith, all-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, leg-spinner Adam Zampa and wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis have also been retained.

Regular Pat Cummins has been rested from the series along with fellow pacers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood.