India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s poor form from the Indian Premier League continued into the Mumbai T20 league, with the star batter scoring 19 runs off 11 balls while chasing a 210-run target.
On Tuesday, leading the Triumphs Knights MNE in their opening game of the T20 Mumbai League Season 4, Suryakumar managed just 19 runs off 11 deliveries as his team suffered a 21-run loss to North Mumbai Panthers at the Wankhede Stadium.
Suryakumar made a brisk start and stitched together a 37-run stand for the third wicket with youngster Nutan Goel in just 25 balls. But his stay was cut short in the seventh over when he was caught at deep square leg off spinner Rahul Sawant.
Goel, meanwhile, fought a lone battle with a superb 93 off 56 deliveries.
Chasing 189, the Triumph Knights were restricted to 188/8.
Although Suryakumar led India to a second consecutive T20 World Cup title in March, he endured a quiet campaign with the bat. He scored 242 runs in nine games at an average of 30.25, with his unbeaten 84 against USA at the Wankhede Stadium in the tournament opener standing as his highest score.
Suryakumar’s struggles continued in IPL 2026, where he managed only 260 runs from 13 games at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54. He registered just two fifties during the campaign as the five-time champions couldn’t progress beyond the league stage.
India are all set to take on Ireland in a two-match T20I series in Belfast later this month, where Suryakumar is expected to lead. The opening game is scheduled for June 26, while the second and final T20I will be played on June 28.
As per reports, Suryakumar is no longer viewed as part of India’s long-term plans for the 2028 Olympic Games or the next T20 World Cup, making his omission from the preliminary team for the Asian Games hardly surprising.
