Our Relationship Is That Of An Elder And Younger Brother: Suryakumar On Gambhir

Suryakumar Yadav, captain of India’s T20I side, has had a long-standing relationship with coach Gautam Gambhir since his Kolkata Knight Riders days from 2014 to 2017, when Gambhir used to lead the side and vice-captain Suryakumar was a finisher down the order.

Speaking about his relationship with the head coach, Suryakumar told The Indian Express that, “Our relationship is that of elder and younger brothers. I played for four years under him at KKR. Learnt a lot from him there. Even now, life has come full circle. He is the coach and I am the captain of the T20 team.” 

The Indian skipper explained that there is very high mutual trust between the two, and that’s why their thinking and planning for the team has largely been on the same page, without any issues.  

“So when we discuss squads, a lot of the time, it happens that he picks an eleven, and I pick an eleven; there are absolutely no differences,” he said. 

“On the ground also if I want to make a decision, I look at the dugout. You see things differently from outside, and he just moves his head a bit, and I get the message. That is the trust we have between us. Touchwood, it’s going really well.”

Suryakumar added that while disagreements between them did happen during their KKR time, but they are now very rare. 

“Let me think about the Asia Cup, did I disagree…? I didn’t,” Yadav recalled. 

“Everything was going so well, why should I disagree?” 

The 35-year-old will now lead the team next in Australia, where they are scheduled to play five T20I games right after the three ODI series, which starts on October 19.