Fiery passion of youth fuelled India’s title defence: Suryakmar
The 2024 batch had “experienced enthusiasm” to push for a drought-ending ICC trophy, while it was the “fiery passion of youth” that fuelled India's unprecedented title defence of the T20 World Cup this year, skipper Suryakumar Yadav said, comparing the two champion squads.
In a wide-ranging podcast interview with PTI, Suryakumar spoke on the subtle difference between the two trophy-winning squads. In 2024, he played under Rohit Sharma, and the squad also had the towering presence of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.
Those three stalwarts retired from the shortest format following the triumph in Barbados, handing over the baton to the uninhibited Suryakumar and Co., who took India's T20 game to the next level. “There was just a “unnis bess ka farak” (minor difference) between the two teams. Woh experience wala josh tha, Idhar ekdum khoon garam tha ladkon ka (that was experienced enthusiasm (in 2024), this was fiery passion),” that was how Suryakumar compared the two squads.
India were overwhelming favourites heading into the 2026 edition at home, but the same cannot be said about the class of 2024, which had to overcome the mental demons on the way to an elusive ICC crown.
“...in 2024, we had a lot of experience. And at that time, there was experience, and there were many good players. “There are good players even now, but then, at that time, our team had a lot of experience, and everyone was perfectly defined for their role,” said Suryakumar when asked if the 2026 squad was slightly superior to the one fielded in 2024. Suryakumar's team also had to deal with the higher expectations associated with playing at home.
“This year, I can say that we had less experience but more (enthusiasm). All the guys are 25 to 27 years old. It was necessary to explain to them how it feels to win a World Cup in India, when people will cheer so much for you - 50,000 people, a lakh people, in the stadium.
“What kind of feeling that would be, it was necessary to tell them a little bit. Otherwise, in my opinion, if you look at teams skill-wise, there's only a slight difference in the T20 format. But I feel, this time, there was more enthusiasm.”
How did Suryakumar handle his emotions being captain of the side in 2026 compared to being an integral member of the 2024 unit? “I think emotions were almost similar. There too, we were playing for India, we wanted to win the World Cup.
In ‘26, the goal was the same, but the emotion of ‘26 was a bit more because we were playing in India.
“And we wanted to win the World Cup in India, and we wanted to win it in the same stadium in Ahmedabad, that was more important for us,” Suryakumar added.
