Gambhir reveals his biggest regret in seven years of KKR captaincy
Gambhir admitted that not identifying Suryakumar's potential or his best batting position in the line-up remains his biggest regret in his tenure as the KKR captain
A name synonymous with Mumbai Indians over the years, Suryakumar Yadav has emerged as not only a key player in the batting line-up, but is also identified as a potential leader for the franchise, during his sensational tenure since 2018.
It was his superlative performance at MI that helped him make it to the Indian white-ball side and rise to the top of the ICC batting rankings in the format. However, the very same Suryakumar was once part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) set-up between 2014 and 2017, before the franchise let him go. Interestingly, looking back at that KKR era, then captain Gautam Gambhir dubbed the India star as his biggest regret.
Suryakumar began his IPL career in 2012 when he played a sole match for Mumbai Indians before being released by the franchise in the subsequent year. He was roped in by KKR in 2014 and the franchise won the title in his first season with it. In his four-year stint with the franchise, Suryakumar scored 608 runs in 54 matches and most of these runs came as a lower middle order batsman.
Gambhir admitted that not identifying Suryakumar's potential or his best batting position in the line-up remains his biggest regret in his tenure as the KKR captain.
“A leader's role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential. And the reason was down to combinations. You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7,” he said while speaking to Sportskeeda on Monday.
Gambhir hailed Suryakumar as a team player, explaining why he was named as the team’s vice-captain in 2015. “He was also a team man. Anyone can be a good player, but being a team man is a difficult task. Whether you play him at No. 6 or 7 or bench him, he was always smiling and always ready to perform for the team. That is why we appointed him as the vice-captain,” he added.