When comparing the two winning teams, captain Suryakumar Yadav stated that the “fiery passion of youth” drove India’s historic title defense of the T20 World Cup this year, while the 2024 class had “experienced enthusiasm” to fight for a drought-ending ICC trophy.
Suryakumar discussed the minor differences between the two trophy-winning teams in a comprehensive interview with PTI. In 2024, he played under Rohit Sharma and the squad also had the towering presence of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.
After the victory in Barbados, the three mainstays withdrew from the shortest format, giving the reins to the unrestrained Suryakumar and company, who elevated India’s T20 game.
“There was just a “unnis bees ka farak” (minor difference) between the two teams. Woh experience wala josh tha, Idhar ekdum khoon garam tha ladkon ka (That was experienced enthusiasm (in 2024), this was fiery passion),” that was how Suryakumar compared the two squads.
India was the clear favorite going into the 2026 tournament at home, but the class of 2024 had to conquer mental obstacles in order to win the elusive ICC title.
“…in 2024, we had a lot of experience. And at that time, there was experience, and there were many good players. There are good players even now, but then, at that time, our team had a lot of experience, and everyone was perfectly defined for their role,” Suryakumar responded when questioned if the 2026 team was marginally better than the 2024 squad.
Additionally, Suryakumar’s side had to contend with the increased pressure of playing at home.
“This year, I can say that we had less experience but more (enthusiasm). All the guys are 25 to 27 years old. It was necessary to explain to them how it feels to win a World Cup in India, when people will cheer so much for you, 50,000 people, a lakh people, in the stadium.
“What kind of feeling that would be, it was necessary to tell them a little bit. Otherwise, in my opinion, if you look at teams skill-wise, there’s only a slight difference in the T20 format. But I feel, this time there was more enthusiasm.”
In contrast to being a crucial part of the team in 2024, how did Suryakumar manage his feelings as captain of the team in 2026?
“I think emotions were almost similar. There too we were playing for India, we wanted to win the World Cup. In ’26, the goal was the same, but the emotion of ’26 was a bit more because we were playing in India. And we wanted to win the World Cup in India, and we wanted to win it in the same stadium in Ahmedabad, that was more important for us,” Suryakumar added.
