Suryakumar Kumar, in his latest conversation, admitted that since winning the 2026 T20 World Cup in March this year, he has been going through a difficult phase. He is now 36, not a young player, but has been treating himself as an emerging cricketer with the hope of regaining his spot at the highest level of the game.

Soon after winning the T20 World Cup, the national selection panel, led by Ajit Agarkar, dropped Suryakumar Yadav completely from the T20I squad. It was widely believed that he was dropped due to his long-standing poor form. Apart from playing the match-defining knock against the USA cricket team in the early stage of the ICC event, Yadav's batting remained far from his best.

Suryakumar Yadav marks post the T20 World Cup 'a little difficult'

During his latest conversation, the former India captain's words sounded more like a confession than a usual media brief. The experienced middle-order batter mentioned that it would be running away from the truth if he said he had no difficulties in the post-T20 World Cup phase.

“See, post the T20 World Cup win, it has been a little difficult. I don't want to run away from that fact. If you are not honest with yourself, it is very difficult to lead a happy life. So, to be very honest, it has been very difficult,” the former India captain said, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Suryakumar Yadav revisited the days he passed

Yadav further mentioned that during the previous Indian Premier League (IPL) season, his focus shifted as he was blessed with a baby girl in May. With the newborn, Suryakumar Yadav's life took a joyful turn, but his life again became difficult only a couple of months after the T20 league. In the hour of difficulty, the former captain went down memory lane to rediscover his days when he used to be an emerging cricketer.

“During the IPL, I was blessed with a baby girl in May. So, the focus shifted completely towards her. The last few months, since she was born, have been very beautiful. But the first two months after the IPL were difficult," he stated.

"Then I thought, why not go back to thinking about how I was before? How I started my cricket journey, when all I wanted was to play age-group cricket for Mumbai and go on to represent Mumbai in first-class cricket."

Everything is back to normal now: Suryakumar Yadav

The former leader of the Indian cricket team went back to domestic cricket to play for the Mumbai state cricket team. He discussed his future plan with his wife before taking over the same approach which he applied ten to fifteen years ago.

"I sat down and started discussing all these things with my wife. She said the same thing: I think you need to bring back the love and passion for the game that you had when you were a 15-year-old kid who wanted to represent Mumbai in the Under-15 age group," Suryakumar Yadav continued.

“So that's what I started thinking about. And I am following the same approach now that I did 10-15 years ago -- training again and pursuing the same passion and love for the game. Everything is back to normal now," he added.

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