On the eve of the 2026 T20 World Cup final against New Zealand, India captain Suryakumar Yadav was gushing about the fact that he is only following the footsteps of Rohit Sharma.
When asked whether he found his predecessor Rohit Sharma’s boots too big to fill, he said: “. (Sir, the shoes are mine, I only follow his footsteps).” On a serious note, he spoke about the nuggets he picked up from Rohit’s leadership.
“The way he left things, I got to learn a lot from him when I was playing under him. So I also followed the same strategy and the same fundamentals.
“I played a lot of cricket with Rohit. I know how he worked. So I tried to implement the same things with a few thoughts of my own as well. And it’s worked really well,” he said.
Suryakumar Yadav is not wrong in crediting Rohit Sharma. It was Rohit who had set the blueprint for India after the ten-wicket mauling India received at the hands of England in Adelaide during the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
After the match, Rohit had said this was not the way his team was going to play. He walked the talk, and there was a conscious effort to bat more aggressively. It brought India success.
The aggressive brand of cricket that Rohit sowed in the DNA of India’s white-ball team can be seen in the performances and the ICC titles India have won.
In hindsight, Surya is not wrong. It still is Rohit’s team. Nine out of the 15 players in the squad had won the title in the Caribbean. It is the same core that, under Rohit, ended India’s 11-year drought of not winning an ICC title. Surya himself blossomed under Rohit’s captaincy, be it for India or for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. The same can be said for Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan.
Then there is Sanju Samson. In the middle of the tournament, when Surya was asked whether the batter should be added to the top three, which was one-dimensional with Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, all southpaws, Surya laughed and said: “You mean I should play him in Abhishek’s place? You mean I should make him play for Tilak?”
Sanju ended up playing three match-winning knocks on the bounce and became the Player of the Tournament.
Two years ago, Rohit spent ten minutes with Sanju Samson before the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa, explaining why he would not be playing in the final, although he had initially been told that he would play.
“I had a chance to play the final. I was told to stay ready. I was ready. However, they decided before the toss that we would go with the same team,” Samson told journalist Vimal Kumar during a chat.
“He spent 10 minutes with the player who was not playing just before the toss. He gave me 10 minutes before the toss. After that, I realised this person had other qualities. If I were in his place, I would be thinking about the players who were playing or about my batting. That is what you normally think. At that point, he thought, ‘I have to explain to Sanju why I took that decision.’ At that moment, he won a place in my heart that will stay for a lifetime.”
Certainly, Surya does not yet have the leadership aura that Rohit possessed. But he will always be remembered as only the third Indian captain after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to lift the T20 World Cup.
What Surya can truly learn from Rohit is how to step away at the right moment.
Rohit did it in 2024. He was still in top form, but he understood that the future had to be prepared. With a World Cup trophy in his hands, he stepped aside from T20Is and made space for the next generation.
Surya now stands at a similar crossroads. The timing could not be better. Walk away at the top, hand the baton to the next generation, and his legacy will not just be about lifting a trophy but about knowing when to let the future begin.
