Suryakumar Yadav slaps himself in disbelief after joining Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni as India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain

Kapil Dev in 1983. MS Dhoni in 2007 and 2011. Rohit Sharma in 2024. And now Suryakumar Yadav in 2026.

That’s the full list of captains who have led the India national cricket team to men’s World Cup glory. In a country that has produced 269 India captains, Suryakumar has become only the fourth to lift a World Cup trophy after his side thumped the New Zealand national cricket team by nearly 100 runs in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The triumph marked India’s third T20 World Cup title and their third consecutive ICC trophy. For a player who made his international debut only in 2021, becoming a World Cup-winning captain within five years underlines how far Suryakumar has come — as a cricketer, a batter and now a leader.

Suryakumar Yadav slaps himself

The magnitude of the achievement was evident when Suryakumar walked up for the presentation. As he approached the stage, he playfully slapped himself a few times, almost as if trying to make the moment feel real.

This was already his fourth T20 World Cup appearance. He endured heartbreak in the 2021 and 2022 editions before finally tasting success in the next two tournaments. Even then, it took a while for the significance of the victory to sink in.

“I think it’ll take a little bit of time, but I’m definitely very happy. It’s been a long journey. It started after the 2024 World Cup. Jay Shah, Rohit bhai and everyone showed faith in me and gave me the opportunity to lead. From there to coming here and winning it — we’ve been playing good cricket over the last two years and just wanted to maintain the habits we built in 2024. The boys responded really well,” he said during the post-match presentation.

Surya’s instinct to back his players

Suryakumar took over as India’s T20I captain shortly after Gautam Gambhir became head coach, edging out Hardik Pandya for the role.

One of the key tests of leadership is backing players during difficult phases, and that was evident in his support for players such as Abhishek Sharma, who had struggled for form before the final. There were also questions about the place of Varun Chakravarthy despite his decent performances earlier in the tournament.

“I think it’s really important to understand what they are capable of. I knew they had match-winning ability. The timing was perfect. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are top players and we believed they would do something special — and they did it in the final,” Suryakumar said.

He also reserved special praise for Jasprit Bumrah, calling him “a once-in-a-generation bowler” and “a national treasure”.

India’s dominance in the format has hardly been surprising. Since the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after the 2024 World Cup triumph, the team has not lost a single series. They have also not lost more than one match in any bilateral contest during that period.

The emphatic 96-run victory over New Zealand — long regarded as one of the most consistent teams in world cricket — perfectly reflected the strength and depth of this new-look Indian side.