Team India are spearheading a T20 cricket revolution. Led by captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir, a fearless and selfless brand of cricket has been adopted, with players told to forget about personal milestones. It is a mentality that saw India put up scores in excess of 250 in both the semi-final and final of the T20 World Cup 2026, en route to victory. Suryakumar reflected on India’s approach, stating that the change had begun right after they lifted the previous T20 World Cup in 2024.
India had won the 2024 edition under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, with Virat Kohli playing a key role in the final. However, their T20I retirement was followed up by a dramatic shift in India’s approach, spearheaded by the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson.
Suryakumar, who took over the captaincy after Rohit’s retirement, revealed that the change in approach had been made clear to the players right after the T20 World Cup 2024.
“We knew the way we played the 2024 T20 World Cup – that brand of cricket – won’t work going ahead,” Suryakumar Yadav said in an interview with The Indian Express.
“We decided: from hereon we will not pay attention to personal milestones, the goal is to win games.
“If you noticed, till the semi-finals none of our players were top run-getters or top wicket-takers. But we qualified and kept winning. Every game, every player contributed,” he added.
Suryakumar noted the importance of making this approach a habit among the entire Indian T20I team.
“It was very important to spread this thing like a virus in the team from the start. We planted this team culture 18 months back,” he stated.
The results are there for everyone to see. India, led by Suryakumar, have become the first team to defend their T20 World Cup title, win the trophy on three occasions, and win it on home soil.