- June 6, 2026
Rohit Sharma Reacts To Suryakumar Yadav’s T20 Captaincy Snub: ‘Nothing Has Come Easy…’
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Rohit Sharma hails Suryakumar Yadav for leading India to the 2026 T20 World Cup title, backs new T20I captain Shreyas Iyer to succeed based on his franchise leadership.
Rohit Sharma (L) and Suryakumar Yadav.
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Rohit Sharma has reacted to the change of guard in the Indian men’s T20I side, which got formalised on Saturday (June 6), with Shreyas Iyer taking the charge from the departing Suryakumar Yadav. Rohit said that he was sure Shreyas would have a ‘good time’ on the job, but also lauded Surya’s fight from making his debut in his 30s to leading the team to the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup title.
Rohit was speaking at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the sidelines of a Mumbai T20 league match between the Suryakumar-led Triumphs Knights MNE against SoBo Mumbai Falcons, where Shreyas is a batter. He spoke in the context of the competition and how it goes hand-in-hand with the IPL.
“Surya led the team to the World Cup, and now Shreyas has been appointed the captain,” Rohit said on the broadcast. “I am sure that, with how he has captained his franchise, Mumbai, he’s going to have a good time as well. Nothing has come easy for so many of these cricketers, especially for Surya. he made his India debut at 31, if I am not wrong, so that shows he was always up for the fight. When the chance came, he wanted to grab it with both hands, and he did.”
Rohit won the 2024 T20 World Cup as the captain and retired immediately after. Suryakumar got the chance after him and went on a two-year streak with no series losses as the captain, which culminated in India retaining the title by beating New Zealand in Ahmedabad in the 2026 final.
While his initial few months were special, Suryakumar lost form after 2025, averaging in the 20s in international cricket and the IPL, while also losing the strike rate that made him the ICC number-one-ranked T20 batter in the world.
There were occasional glimpses of his special talent, like the match-winning half-century against the USA in the T20 World Cup, but his overall numbers were simply not good enough to make the selectors stick with him.
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