Suryakumar Yadav is looking to follow in the footsteps of Rohit Sharma having learnt his captaincy lessons from him at Mumbai Indians and during his stint with the national side.
Surya, who took over as India’s T20 captain after the World Cup triumph, admitted that he followed “Rohit’s captaincy route” of spending a lot of time with his team off the field, which then reflects in their on-field performance.
“A leader is one who decides how his team plays a particular format. When I am on the ground, I keep noticing him. How his body language is and how he keeps calm and how he treats his bowlers... I know how he treats his players, what he wants from them.
“That route I have also taken as he has been successful. Obviously, I have put my own masala in it,” Surya said on the eve of the first T20I against South Africa in Durban.
In a transition phase, promising youngsters such as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma will be hoping for a breakaway series in South Africa.
Samson received a chance to open consistently during the series at home against Bangladesh and he made most of it slamming a 47-ball 111. Samson would like to seal his claim for a regular opening slot with a few fruitful outings in this series too.