"Bat at three throughout" - Former batter's advice to Suryakumar Yadav after another failure in 2nd IND vs SA 2025 T20I

Former India opener Aakash Chopra reckons that Suryakumar Yadav must bat at No. 3 in all of the team's remaining eight games in the build-up to the T20 World Cup. Urging the captain to shun all experiments, he added that the 35-year-old must give himself the best chance of finding some form with the willow heading into the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Suryakumar's lean run with the bat continued as he was dismissed for five in the second T20I against South Africa in Mullanpur on Thursday, December 11. Chasing a stiff target of 214, the Men in Blue were bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs as the Proteas leveled the five-match series 1-1.

Following Shubman Gill's dismissal for a golden duck, India sent in Axar Patel at No. 3, while Suryakumar batted at No. 4. During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo following India's 51-run defeat, Chopra urged the skipper to move back to the No. 3 position and batted there in all games in the lead-up to the World Cup.

"One thing that he must also do is just bat at three throughout. There are eight games left. Nobody is asking questions with regard to his place in the side or his leadership. He must put himself at three and then just give himself a consistent run so that he can get into some decent form come the World Cup."

Chopra admitted that Suryakumar's place in the Indian T20I squad would have been under the scanner had he not been the captain of the team. He stated:

"Yes, it will be questioned. If it wasn't for the captaincy... Yes, pedigree - there is a lot of work that he has put in. He is an outstanding T20 cricketer and therefore he is the captain of the Indian cricket team. But, eventually you need the runs. It's not just about taking the decisions on the field. You have a job to do as a batter as well.

"If you are falling short there, then there will be questions because there is very basic expectation of runs when you are batting in the top four," the former KKR batter went on to add.

In 17 T20I innings in 2025, Suryakumar has managed only 201 runs at an average of 14.35 and a strike rate of 126.41. The right-handed batter does not have a single half-century to show for his efforts. His best of 47* came off 37 balls against Pakistan in Dubai in the group stage of the Asia Cup in September.

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"That could be the hypothesis" - Aakash Chopra on Suryakumar scoring in IPL and not in T20Is

Rather strangely, while Suryakumar has looked completely out of form in T20Is, he had an exceptional IPL 2025 campaign for Mumbai Indians (MI). In 16 innings, the swashbuckling batter amassed 717 runs at an average of 65.18 and a strike rate of 167.91, with five half-centuries. Asked if the burden of captaincy is affecting the batter while playing for India, Chopra replied:

"That could be the hypothesis because that's what we tend to do - put two and two together and say what was different in the IPL where he scored the runs. Perhaps he wasn't the captain. But is it like that straightforward? I don't have the right answer, but it is true that on either side of the IPL the runs haven't come."

Looking at his overall T20I career, Suryakumar has played 97 matches and has scored 2,771 runs at an average of 35.98 and a strike rate of 163.96, with the aid of four hundreds and 21 half-centuries.