"It Will Backfire On Both Suryakumar Yadav And Gautam Gambhir": Ex-India Star's Massive Warning

Former India batter Robin Uthappa has warned senior men's team head coach Gautam Gambhir and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav of excessive experimentation in the batting order. India have been making plenty of changes in the batting order. The message for the team is clear that there is a demand for a flexible line-up. The India head coach Gambhir even insisted earlier this month that "batting order is overrated" in white-ball cricket. However, Uthappa is of the opinion that Suryakumar and Gambhir would be under fire if this approach fails in the lead-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup, set to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March. (India vs South Africa 2nd T20 Live Updates | Live Scorecard)

After the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa, India will play a series of as many matches against New Zealand before playing the world event. With so little time left for preparation, the co-hosts need to make sure their experiment reaps rewards; otherwise, there will be no turning back.

"If this goes south, it'll backfire on both Surya and Gautam Gambhir. And people are anyway gunning for his (Gambhir) head. You can't go into a World Cup as the defending champions with your main batters not in good form. In the first T20I, Hardik saved the skins out of India's innings. If it wasn't for him, we would have been 30-40 runs off that total and that's a 130. Those things concern me," said Uthappa on his YouTube channel.

The ex-India player also talked about Suryakumar's poor form with the bat. Suryakumar averaged 15.07 in the first 16 T20Is he played this year.

"Today it's not affecting him because India is winning matches. He's one of the most successful Indian captains right now with an 85 win percentage. But if that drops over the next nine games, then it starts impacting his batting and it starts impacting how he leads on the field as well. India is leading into a World Cup at home where you want to have your main batters in really good form, especially when you are defending champions," Uthappa added.

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Cricket India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team India vs South Africa 2025, India Suryakumar Yadav Gautam Gambhir Robin Uthappa