Pallekele: Suryakumar Yadav's reign as India's T20I captain is still in its infancy, but the dynamic white-ball batter is already winning praise for his leadership skills and ability to adapt quickly during matches.
The first real test of Suryakumar's captaincy finished on Tuesday in Pallekele as India completed a 3-0 series sweep over Sri Lanka, as the new skipper passed his first proper assignment in charge with flying colours.
Not only did Suryakumar finish the series as his side's leading run-scorer and claim the Player of the Series award, the 33-year-old also created an instant impression in the role of captain, bringing his own leadership style to the job made vacant following the T20I retirement of Rohit Sharma.
Everyone expected Suryakumar to make runs, but not all thought he would make an instant impression as skipper by bringing a new flair to the captaincy ranks and backing his players to perform the skills they are capable of.
Suryakumar entrusted Washington Sundar to bowl the crucial Super Over of the third and final T20I against Sri Lanka, and the all-rounder did not let his skipper down as he claimed two wickets to help his Player of the Match cause, and to put his side within sight of victory.
The new India captain also made the bold call to utilise the spin of Rinku Singh in the penultimate over of the clash when Sri Lanka needed just nine for victory, and then raised eyebrows further when he brought himself on to bowl the final six deliveries that helped force the Super Over, an ICC report said.
It came after Suryakumar used Riyan Parag and Axar Patel ahead of his more fancied bowlers during the death overs of the first two T20I against Sri Lanka and shows the new skipper is more than happy to entrust his players to come up trumps in the clutch moments.
Ravi Shastri predicted Suryakumar to thrive in his new role when speaking on the most recent episode of The ICC Review, with the former India coach proven correct on the back of his first
series in charge.
"We know he is street smart...he is one of the best T20 players in the world at the moment," Shastri said of Suryakumar earlier this month.
"I think it'll (captaincy style) be much like his personality, the way he plays the game. He'll be thinking very quickly and the fact that he knows all these players, even the senior players, I think he'll be in a great position to handle the team," Shastri said.
Suryakumar seems to be enjoying the added responsibility, with the dashing right-hander claiming in his post-match speech that his teammates have made his transition into the role seamless.
"Like I said before the series, I don't want to be the captain, I want to be the leader," Suryakumar said.
"The amount of skill they (teammates) have, self-confidence, it makes my job easy. The positivity, the care for each other is unbelievable…they have made my job easy. I have little pressure when I bat," he said.
And Suryakumar's teammates appear to be enjoying playing under his captaincy, with Sundar and Parag singling out the new skipper for praise after the Sri Lanka victory.
"I just wanted to try and stay calm and just focus on what I'm supposed to do and very grateful to Surya especially to throw the ball to me in that (Super Over) situation," Sundar said.
Parag expanded even further, by indicating Suryakumar had brought a new mantra to the group that made the series success a fun experience for all involved.
"It was fun," Parag said.
"And that's why actually we didn't feel the nerves. We planned it in such a fun way, it was very spontaneous, Rinku bhai bowling the 19th over. I was pretty sure (Mohammed) Siraj bhai was
going to bowl the last over but then Surya bhai just came on to bowl and got it to a Super Over,"
he said.
"So I think everyone was pretty chill. We were having fun. That's one of our motto as well. We are being ruthless but we have fun and enjoy the game and that's why we were able to pull this off today," Parag added.