Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has opened up on Suryakumar Yadav’s approach in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. While Manjrekar lauded SKY’s match-winning knock of 84 runs off just 49 balls against the USA when India were on the ropes at 77-6, he feels the Indian captain is pulling down the shutters a bit too early.
Manjrekar reckons the right-hander is not backing India’s batting depth and as SKY is playing with a sedate approach, the team is under-utilising players like Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh. SKY scored 34 runs off 28 balls against the Netherlands whereas he scored 32 off 29 balls against Pakistan.
“There is something that I am seeing in Suryakumar Yadav which I’m not liking too much. 77-6, India against USA, at the Wankhede, and Suryakumar Yadav had to change his game, which he did brilliantly. Just slowed down a little bit, and then exploded, and got a great score, player of the match, and everything,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on his Instagram page.
“Since then, I think he is taking that a bit too far. Against Pakistan, where India lost a couple of wickets, he really pulled down the shutters quite a lot. Him and Tilak Varma are both playing slightly conservatively, and in the end, what happens is that people like Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, and Rinku Singh, are not really tapped into resources as much,” he continued.
The former Indian batter urged SKY to stay away from such a conservative batting approach, as it could lead to the team’s downfall.
“In T20 cricket, that is a dangerous thing to do, where a senior player or captain feels like he has got to stay in, especially while batting first. When you are setting targets of 200 plus, if you have somebody in the top four who believes that he is the guy who has got to control the innings and make sure he is the one who will take India to a certain score, that is a very dangerous tactic. No batter must think like that. So, Surya must be careful about that,” Sanjay Manjrekar elaborated.
India will take on South Africa in their opening game of the Super 8 stage at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday.
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