Suryakumar Yadav against Pakistan (Source: AFP)
Suryakumar Yadav has been in poor form in the Asia Cup 2025, and in the final of the tournament, he disappointed Indian fans again. The batter could score just one run off five balls, and it was Pakistan's spearhead, Shaheen Afridi, who got the better of him.
It was a slowish full delivery from Shaheen Afridi, and Suryakumar Yadav went for the drive over the in-field. However, he mistimed it badly and ended up handing a low catch to Salman Ali Agha. It was a big breakthrough for Pakistan, and Suryakumar Yadav has continued his struggle in the knockout matches of the multi-nation tournaments in T20Is.
Suryakumar Yadav's struggle in knockout matches at international level
Suryakumar Yadav has played four knockout matches in his T20I career. Two finals - one in theT20 World Cup 2024 and another in the final of the Asia Cup 2025. The two semifinals have been in the T20 World Cup 2022 and the T20 World Cup 2024.
SKY has scored just four runs in the finals, with three runs in the T20 World Cup 2024 final and one run in the Asia Cup 2025. In the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal, Suryakumar Yadav scored 14 runs, while his only notable performance in the knockout came in the T20 World Cup 2024. He scored 47 off 36 balls in that match, but overall, he has failed in three out of four knockout matches of his T20I career.
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Suryakumar Yadav in knockouts in T20Is
| Criterion | Data |
| Innings | 4 |
| Runs | 65 |
| Average | 16.25 |
| 100s/50s | 0/0 |
Interestingly, Suryakumar Yadav also struggled in the ODI World Cup final of 2023, where he could manage just 18 runs off 28 balls. Thus, overall, Suryakumar Yadav's record in knockouts at the international level is pretty poor and is in contrast to his successful T20I record.
Thus, India need their T20I captain to take more responsibility in the big matches. He has a T20I average of 37.59 and a strike-rate of 164.65, which is one of the best in the world, but he needs to show more composure under pressure at the international level.
