Gambhir seeks contract extension until 2028 T20 World Cup; Suryakumar Yadav remains his first choice as captain: Report

The seasoned batter has also struggled to get going in the first four Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 matches for the Mumbai Indians, scoring 106 runs with his best score being 51 against the Delhi Capitals.

According to a PTI report, there are some serious questions on whether Suryakumar would be the ideal candidate to lead India in the next T20 World Cup and the Los Angeles Olympics, both set to take place in 2028. India's next assignment in the shortest format is the upcoming series against Ireland and England, and now it has come to light that both series will hold great significance for the under-fire Suryakumar.

"Obviously, Surya is now leading the team. But he also has to ensure that, as a batter, he maintains a level of consistency in his performances. Obviously, he will lead in the UK, but after that, discussions going forward till 2028 could be purely performance-based," a BCCI source told PTI.

Call with Agarkar

However, it would be interesting to see how the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee would view the situation, given that Suryakumar would be pushing 38 at the time of the Olympics.

The right-handed batter had a horrible 2025, failing to score a single fifty, with his strike rate also dropping below 120. However, he made a turnaround in 2026, smashing four fifties till the end of the T20 World Cup at a strike rate of more than 160.

In the World Cup, Surya returned scores of 18, 18, 11 and 0 against teams such as South Africa, West Indies, England and New Zealand.

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