The Indian team will be taking on Australia in a five-T20I series. The first T20I will be played at Canberra on October 29, and the Indian team will be led by Suryakumar Yadav. The Men in Blue are coming off the Asia Cup 2025 title win in the UAE.
However, the conditions and surfaces will be totally different for the Indian team, and also in focus will be captain Suryakumar Yadav’s batting form. After scoring 47* against Pakistan in the Asia Cup group stage game, Yadav didn’t do much in the rest of the games, including the final. He scored 72 runs in six games in the tournament.
The right-handed batter has been far from his best in T20Is in 2025, scoring just 100 runs in 12 matches.
Despite being the second-highest run scorer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, Suryakumar's performance in international matches is far from satisfactory.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir, however, downplayed the worries, claiming that when someone puts the needs of the team first and takes a high-risk approach, failure is a part of the sport.
“Honestly, Surya's batting form doesn't concern me because we have committed to an ultra-aggressive template in our dressing room. When you embrace this philosophy, failures are inevitable. It would be easy for Surya to score 40 runs off 30 balls and avoid criticism, but we have collectively decided that it's acceptable to fail while pursuing this approach,” Gambhir said in a conversation with JioStar.
“Currently, Abhishek Sharma is in good form and has maintained it throughout the Asia Cup. When Surya finds his rhythm, he will shoulder the responsibility accordingly. In T20 cricket, our focus isn't on individual runs but on the brand of cricket we want to play. With our aggressive style, batters may fail more often, but impact ultimately matters more than mere runs,” he added.
As he discussed why the right-hander has been such a successful leader in the shortest format, Gambhir also referred to Suryakumar as a "great human being."
In a five-match T20I series at home, India defeated England 4-1 under Suryakumar's leadership. But given Mitchell Marsh's team's recent incredible run, his true test would be against Australia.
“Surya is a great human being, and good humans make good leaders. While he speaks highly of me, my role is simply to advise him fairly based on my reading of the game. Ultimately, this is his team. His free-spirited character perfectly matches T20 cricket's essence; it's about freedom and expression,” said Gambhir.
“Your off-field personality reflects on the field and in the dressing room, and Surya has maintained this atmosphere brilliantly over the past 1.5 years. From our first conversation, we agreed: we will not fear losing. I don't aim to be the most successful coach; I want us to be the most fearless team," he added.
