Gambhir had deemed Suryakumar to take over KKR captaincy during his days with the franchise.
Suryakumar's KKR departure coincided with Gambhir's own exit from the set-up ahead of the IPL 2018. The Mumbai right-hander played four seasons for KKR under Gambhir's captaincy, batting mostly in the lower middle-order, something Gambhir says was accidental and unfortunate for the batsman, given the batting riches around him.
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But during those days, Gambhir saw a matured individual with leadership qualities, apart from his batting talent, and had deemed Suryakumar as the right guy to take over the side in future.
Recognising early what he could offer, Mumbai Indians (MI) have batted Suryakumar mostly within the top 3 since his arrival into the camp. He repaid their trust with an outstanding run in this year's edition of the IPL, scoring 480 runs at an average of 40 while maintaining a strike-rate of 145.02 and was instrumental to them winning another title.
"You’ve got to criticize some of the franchise as well. Suryakumar Yadav is not easily earned by Mumbai Indians. It’s probably the biggest loss KKR has ever had in 13 years," Gambhir said in a live interaction on ESPNcricinfo.
"Someone who was young came into KKR played for 4 years obviously couldn’t get the number where he should have batted at because of whatever batting lineup we had at that time. Manish Pandey was batting at number 3, but he was batting at number 6 or 7. But then, KKR could have easily built a side around Suryakumar Yadav."
"He was the Vice-Captain when I was leaving the side. Made him the vice-captain so there’s an easy transition. I could see the leadership quality which SKY had."
Through his performances, Suryakumar has grown in stature as a player, with many backing his case for inclusion in the senior Indian team.
"Very selfless guy – you make him bat at number 6 or you make him bat at number 7, he can bat at any number, there will never be a long phase that yes you wanted bat at number 3. That is the kind of players you want. That is the kind of culture built-in Mumbai Indians," said Gambhir.
"For me, the biggest loss KKR has ever had is letting SKY go because you don’t get Indians players with that kind of talent," he added.