“Never say a bowler has a weakness…”

After proving himself as a batsman in T20Is, Suryakumar Yadav will be looking to make a similar impact as a captain too. The newly-appointed Team India captain will begin his tenure on Saturday (July 27) with the first match of the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka.

While Suryakumar Yadav has led India in T20Is in the past, the upcoming game will be his first as the permanent captain. Earlier this month, he replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s T20 captain. While Hardik Pandya was widely expected to become the new captain, the selectors and the new team management handed the responsibility to Suryakumar Yadav.

And ahead of Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy bow, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has given him an important piece of advice. Shastri backed the new captain to shine but was also quick to fire a warning. The former India allrounder said that Suryakumar needs to quickly work out how to juggle India’s bowling options in order to excel as a captain.

“One thing that he (Suryakumar) will have to learn from his side, is what are the strengths of his bowlers and what are the limitations,” Shastri told ICC.

“I never say a bowler has a weakness, I say a limitation and then there are strengths. And then focus on the right things and set fields accordingly. I think that’s what he will have to learn,” he added.

Suryakumar Yadav is street smart: Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri called Suryakumar Yadav a street-smart cricketer and backed him to excel as a captain. He stated that the new India captain will be taking quick decisions and his closeness with all the players including the senior ones will help him handle the team well.

“We know he is street smart…he is one of the best T20 players in the world at the moment,” Shastri said.

“He is a match-winner on his own, walks into the team day in, day out in that format of the game on his own steam, so I think it’s not a bad idea at all.

“I think it’ll [captaincy style] be much like his personality, the way he plays the game. He’ll be thinking very quickly and the fact that he knows all these players, even the senior players, I think he’ll be in a great position to handle the team,” he added.

Suryakumar has led India in a total of 7 T20Is so far. Of those seven games, India won 5. He also performed well with the bat in those games. The right-handed batsman scored 300 runs with the help of a century and two half-centuries.