Indian incumbent T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav has spoken candidly about the emotional toll of missing out on selection for the white-ball tour of Australia in 2020-21. The batting maestro, who has long been a key figure for India, revealed that not being included in the squad was a significant setback that led him to step away temporarily to recalibrate.
“It was an emotional knock because just a few days before, the team for the Australia tour was announced,” Yadav said on the Suryakumar Yadav Experience show on JioHotstar.
“I had been building up for this over the past few years — my domestic season and IPL were going really well. I had prepared myself well for this season, even taking time during the Covid break to work on my body and mental health. I expected to be in the T20 squad. Everyone around me, including teammates from other countries, thought I’d be flying to Australia. I was already on that flight, mentally. But when I wasn’t selected, it hit me hard. I couldn’t understand what went wrong,” he said.
Yadav also said that he took a break to get over the disappointment.
“I started thinking in a reverse way, I thought what and where it went wrong. For the next 2-3 days, I didn’t speak to anyone. I took a break and didn’t even practice. I knew my mind and heart were not in the right place, so I decided to relax instead. When I returned to the ground, people noticed I was off, and Mahela Jayawardene and Zaheer Khan could see it too,” Yadav said