Irfan Pathan: ‘Form of captain Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill is real cause of concern for India’

Pathan said: "For Suryakumar Yadav, I felt he needs to focus on his offside play. He was completely out of position when he got out. The runs not coming from Shubman Gill’s bat is a bad sign and increases the pressure on him and the team management. They will be asking what to do."

Shubman Gill in action. (FILE photo)

4 min readDec 12, 2025 12:11 PM IST First published on: Dec 12, 2025 at 12:11 PM IST

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has said that the form of India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his deputy Shubman Gill is a real cause of concern for India after the Indian cricket team lost the second T20I to South Africa by 51 runs at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur. The scrutiny turned on captain Yadav and his Gill’s runs with the bat with the T20 World Cup approaching in two months’ time. Gill was dismissed for a first ball duck on Thursday at New Chandigarh while Yadav managed five runs from four balls. In the first T20I, Gill had been dismissed for four while the captain could only make 12 with the bat.

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“At the toss, we said it would not be bad for South Africa to bat first. Because they were chasing in the first match and here in New Chandigarh, they batted first which meant you do not have the scoreboard pressure and you can bat freely. Quinton de Kock did a great job. But looking at this match, who should be credited? We have two points. One is the form of Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill which is a real cause of concern for India. Then there is South Africa’s bowling, it was a very good bowling performance. And Quinton de Kock is back in form, which is big news for South Africa,” said Pathan on JioHotstar after India’s loss.

Pathan continued, this time explaining the areas where the Indian batters needed to focus on in the coming games.

“Shubman Gill will say he got a very good ball and looked stuck at the crease. For captain Suryakumar Yadav, I felt he needs to focus on his offside play. He was completely out of position when he got out. About Gill’s dismissal, the ball from Lungi Ngidi was top quality. The angle he bowled from was excellent. But if Gill was in form, he would have played that ball easily. He is not in form. Ngidi has bowled only three overs to him so far in the powerplay in this series and got him out twice, giving just four runs. He is putting a lot of pressure on Gill with the new ball. The runs not coming from Gill’s bat is a bad sign and increases the pressure on him and the team management. They will be asking what to do. This situation should not get worse. If the runs still don’t come, you can’t just bring Sanju Samson back and expect him to perform, if he is also rusty. There are many questions. If they go back to Samson, it becomes very important for him to score runs.”

Pathan also spoke about the pressure on Suryakumar Yadav as the captain of the side: “Surya will be under pressure because he’s the captain and as a captain, your slot in the playing 11 is secured automatically. As a player, if you haven’t scored runs in a year, you are under pressure. His form has to come back before the World Cup. He needs the right batting position and better shot selection. Surya has shown a pattern of playing straight balls to the leg side and getting out. When you’re not scoring, you should try to play in the off-side and in front. He has the skill to bring the ball in front of his eyes and use the pace, that’s how he will start scoring again.”