Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav on Saturday dodged the question on the captaincy of Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a witty response. (More Cricket News)
Suryakumar was speaking on the eve of India's first of the three T20Is against Bangladesh. However, he did not clearly answer a query on the captaincy of his IPL franchise.
Suryakumar had pipped his MI teammate Hardik Pandya for the Indian T20I captaincy after Rohit Sharma announced his retirement following India's triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Even as Hardik plays under Suryakumar in the Indian side, it was the former who held captaincy at MI last season.
Suryakumar said the question about IPL captaincy was a "googly".
“Aapne googly daal diya aapne (laughs) (You put me in a spot with a wrong 'un), the Indian T20I skipper said. "Really enjoying this new role (as India captain). When I was playing under Rohit bhai’s captaincy in MI, I used to give my inputs whatever I felt at that time."
"For India also feeling good. I captained against Sri Lanka previously against Australia and South Africa also. I have learnt from other captains on how to take the team forward," he said.
"Aage dekhte hain. Chalte rahta hain. Baaki aapko pata toh chal hee jayega (Let's see how it goes. Rest you will know in due course of time),” Suryakumar added.
With the deadline to announce retentions on October 31, MI are set to have a tough time managing the star Indian players. As per the IPL guidelines, a team can retain five players at maximum.
Last season, MI had removed Rohit Sharma from the captaincy to bring in Hardik as skipper. The move, however, did not bear favourable results as MI finished last on the table.
