A new, exciting challenge awaited him in the new year – the opportunity to emulate Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma and become only the third Indian captain to lift the T20 World Cup. As if to reiterate that one hadn’t imagined things, Suryakumar produced a raging unbeaten 82 two nights later in Raipur. Having used Nagpur to convince himself that all was well, again, in his batting world, Suryakumar slid into the consistency that not so long back made him the most feared batter in the universe. As many as 234 of his series runs came at No. Now that that box also has been ticked, expect more fireworks from Suryakumar – ‘The SKY is blue again’ – over the next month, when India seek to rewrite history and become the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup and the first side to go all the way on home patch.

Source: The Hindu February 05, 2026 07:04 UTC