"Never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav's potential" - Gautam Gambhir on his biggest regret during KKR's captaincy in IPL [SK Match ki Baat Exclusive]
Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir shared the biggest regret of his captaincy stint with the franchise in a chat with Sportskeeda . The former Indian batter thought that he and the team management could not effectively utilize the talent of Suryakumar Yadav in his earlier days.
Gambhir captained the Knight Riders in 122 IPL games from 2011 to 2017, winning 69 of them. He also led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Meanwhile, 'SKY' was bought by the franchise in 2014 and could only feature in 54 games until the 2017 season. He garnered 608 runs in 41 innings at an average of 22.52 and a strike rate of 131.89.
Suryakumar batted predominantly at No. 6 or No. 7 position for KKR, due to the presence of players like Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir at the top. According to Gambhir, Surya was a team-man, that's why the franchise appointed him the vice-captain in 2015.
Here's what Gambhir said exclusively on SK Match ki Baat:
“A leader's role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential. The reason was down to combinations.
"You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7."
The 42-year-old added:
"Whether you played him at No. 6 or 7 or benched him, he was always smiling and always ready to perform for the team. That’s why we appointed him as the vice-captain.”
After his four-year stint with KKR, Suryakumar Yadav shifted to Mumbai Indians in 2018 and made No. 3 his own position. With a total of 2,986 IPL runs for Mumbai, he has garnered 1,533 runs at No. 3 with a strike rate of 146.83, and a top score of 103*.
"Suryakumar Yadav can excel across all formats" - Gautam Gambhir
The former Indian batter thinks Suryakumar Yadav has the ability to score runs across all formats. It is evident that 'SKY' is currently the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, with over 700 runs at an average of 48.83 and a strike rate of 155.96 with a top knock of 112* off 51 coming against Sri Lanka.
However, he only holds an average of 25.76 in 37 ODIs and featured in his only Test in February 2023. However, Gautam Gambhir thinks otherwise and feels the 33-year-old batter has a lot to give to the Indian team in these formats as well.
"He should not be satisfied, as Suryakumar Yadav is not a one-format player," Gambhir said on SK Match ki Baat. "He has the ability to excel across all formats, and if you make yourself the one-format player, you would have under-achieved in your career. He can be dangerous in the ODI format as well, and I hope he will not make himself a one-format player and keep working hard."