If he could have worked on his fitness a lot more

Former Team India batter Sanjay Manjrekar questioned Suryakumar Yadav’s fitness at his advanced age after the latter was dropped from the T20I squad for the upcoming Ireland and England series. The 35-year-old recently captained India to T20 World Cup glory at home.

However, Surya’s own batting form has taken a massive dip over the past two years. The right-hander has averaged under 27 in 52 T20Is in the last 24 months, including a dismal 13.62 in 21 T20Is in 2025.

Talking about Suryakumar Yadav’s exclusion from the Indian T20I setup, Manjrekar said on Sony Sports:

“Surya losing form at his age made me wonder if he will have a second wind in T20s and become the player he was three to four years back. He’s not a 25 or 30-year-old. And as it panned out, with T20 being a hand-eye coordination game, you need to be supremely fit or young to have the kind of reflexes to meet bat on ball. Age not being on his side and plus, if he could have worked on his fitness a lot more, maybe things would have been slightly different.”

He added:

“T20 is just a hand-eye coordination game with not much technique involved. And Surya wasn’t able to get back to the highs that were brilliant for us to see. It used to be incredible what he did at the T20 level. But he is a Mumbai cricketer, so he should know that his time was up.”

Even as Surya’s batting form deserted him, Team India still won plenty under him in T20Is, evidenced by his incredible overall 40-8 record as skipper.

Suryakumar Yadav continued his woeful form in IPL 2026

Unfortunately for Suryakumar Yadav, his poor batting form continued even in the recently concluded IPL 2026. The veteran right-hander scored only 270 runs at a dismal average of under 21 in 13 matches.

His struggles meant the Mumbai Indians (MI) endured a season to forget, winning only 4 of 14 matches and finishing 9th on the points table. Yet, Surya still boasts incredible overall T20I numbers, with over 3,200 runs at an average of 36.35 and a strike rate of 162.94 in 113 matches.

He also played integral roles in India’s 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cup title runs in the West Indies and at home.