How does India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav handle playing under Hardik Pandya at Mumbai Indians?

It’s often stated that India’s cricket captain is more answerable than politicians. You get asked questions for every mistake. But this only means you have more power than anyone in Indian cricket. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are fine examples of this. But neither played under anyone in the Indian Premier League (IPL), while current Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has to.

How captain vs captain dynamic works

Suryakumar was named skipper last July. Since then, he’s done a splendid job, losing just 3 matches. But when the IPL season arrives, he has to play under Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder was in the running to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s T20I captain, but keeping in mind how injury-prone Hardik is, the selectors thought otherwise.

Now, Suryakumar leads Hardik when they play for India and vice versa for the Mumbai Indians (MI). Surely, this can’t be easy. And Surya admits it’s a bit different playing under someone now that he’s the India captain.

“You have the same goals in franchise cricket and when you play for India. You aim to perform well and win matches for your team. It’s common in both. If I lead India and Hardik leads the Mumbai Indians, yes, it’s a different thing,” Surya said on Vimal Kumar’s YouTube channel.

We respect each other: Suryakumar Yadav on Hardik Pandya

But that doesn’t change how either of them plays. Surya stated that whether they play for India or MI, the objective remains the same. He added that it doesn’t matter who leads since all they want is to win for whichever team they play and that there is respect between them.

“In the Mumbai Indians, it doesn’t matter who the captain is; the goal is the same. Winning is all that matters. It’s an institution, a gurukul. Players come there to study (play), and one of them becomes the class monitor (captain). But the goal is to write well in the exam (perform well in the IPL). And that’s what we try to do.

The same happens in the Indian team. It doesn’t matter who is leading. You have to do the same thing: score runs for the team and win matches. We’ve come to an understanding that it doesn’t matter who the captain is. We are all leaders in different places. It’s not an issue. We respect each other,” he added.

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