Suryakumar Yadav and Ayush MhatreImage Credit source: PTI & Instagram
The new year is once again going to be very special for the cricket world because many big tournaments will be played in 2026 also. These will start from January itself, when the Under-19 Men's World Cup will be played and then the Men's T20 World Cup 2026 will be organised. In both these tournaments, the Indian team will enter as a contender for the title, because India's performance in both has been strong. But before the start of this World Cup, their captain is proving to be the biggest problem for the Indian team. On one hand, Suryakumar Yadav is not scoring runs, while on the other hand, Under-19 team captain Ayush Mhatre is also continuously failing.
on sunday 21st december India's under-19 team Had to face defeat in the final of Asia Cup against Pakistan. This is the same team, which has to participate in the Under-19 World Cup to be held next month. Before the defeat in the final, the team's performance had been consistently good and most of the players had shown strong play, hence there is not much concern about the future of the team due to a defeat. But in this final also the failure of captain Ayush Mhatre again raised questions on him.
The Indian team had to score 348 runs to win but in the final, captain Ayush was out after scoring only 2 runs in 8 balls. The situation remained the same not only in the final but in the entire tournament, where the 18-year-old explosive opener did not score runs from his bat. Right-handed batsman Ayush Mhatre scored only 65 runs at a modest average of 13 in 5 innings of this tournament, in which his highest score was 38 runs.
But not only in this tournament, but in all the ODI matches that Mhatre has played so far in his Under-19 career, he has not been able to do anything special. This batsman has played 14 Under-19 ODI matches so far and in these he has been able to score only 143 runs, in which there is not a single half-century. In such a situation, he is the biggest matter of concern for Team India in the Under-19 World Cup to be held next month.
This story of captaincy failure is not limited only to the Under-19 team, but the condition of the senior T20 team is also similar, where the bat of experienced superstar batsman Suryakumar Yadav is completely silent. Recently, in the T20 series against South Africa, the Indian captain flopped badly and scored only 34 runs in 4 innings. His similar condition was seen in Australia and before that in the Asia Cup also.
Surya was made the captain of the T20 team after the 2024 World Cup but he has been continuously failing since then. Especially in 2025, his performance has been very disappointing. In this entire year, Surya has scored only 218 runs in 21 T20 matches at an average of 13 and he has not been able to score a single half-century. This is the worst year of his T20 career. Now the T20 World Cup is to start from 7th February and Surya will be the captain there too. In such a situation, before the tournament, the captain seems to be the biggest obstacle in the way of the team.
