Robin Uthappa Cites MS Dhoni's Example to Defend BCCI's Selection of Captain Suryakumar Yadav For T20 World Cup 2026

T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav getting picked for the T20 World Cup 2026 raised eyebrows as he has not been in good form in T20Is. While the BCCI faced immense backlash over his selection, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has now defended Suryakumar by citing former India captain MS Dhoni's example. 

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Uthappa cited the example of the 2011 ODI WC in which Dhoni was not in top form throughout the competition but came good when it mattered the most - in the summit clash. 

'I remember that Dhoni wasn't in the best of form'

“I remember that Dhoni wasn't in the best of form. If I'm not wrong, I don't think he got more than one or two fifties in the entire World Cup, and the final was one of those. He was not in very good form. It's happened before, where teams have carried important players who were not in good form because of what they can potentially do; they're match-winners,” he said on his YouTube channel. 

Uthappa also went onto claim that Suryakumar is not exactly out of form as he has been batting well in the nets. 

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'Don't think SKY is out of form'

He added: “I don't think SKY is out of form. People who haven't played cricket at a certain level will not understand when we're saying he's not out of form, he's out of runs. Ollie Pope is out of form, Shubman Gill looks out of form. In this series, I've watched SKY bat in the nets. Boy, he was hitting shots in fog. He was hitting full-length balls over third man for six. Like what he did in the IPL, he was doing that, off the front foot. You can't do that if you're not in form.”

In his last 22 outings, he has amassed 244 runs at an average of 13.14 and a strike rate of 118.60.