Suryakumar Yadav has finally achieved his 80% score on the cricket field, but it eluded him in the classroom.
Suryakumar has an 80% winning percentage as national captain in the T20 World Cup, and he is currently enjoying the pleasure of leading India to a historic defense of the championship just a few days ago. As could be predicted, the Mumbaikar was thrilled with the figures, but he was unable to handle them academically.
“I feel that the percentage I tried to achieve in school and college by studying, I’m getting that today in cricket here,” when asked to consider the success percentage since assuming the role of T20 captain in 2024, he joked in an interview with PTI.
The three-time T20 global champions have won 42 of the 52 games played during that time.
“There (in school or college), I could never cross (50-60 per cent). But definitely, it feels good to hear this (80 per cent winning rate) here. Although, I don’t pay much attention to stats. But nobody likes to lose in any game. I also love winning all the games,” he said.
Suryakumar’s father, worked at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) as an electrical engineer. However, Suryakumar’s family was encouraging enough to support his cricketing aspirations, and he never felt drawn to academics.
“…my family tried a lot to educate me first….(but) in a short time they got the idea that this boy is not interested in studies. Ye ladka haath mein nahi aayega (this boy can’t be controlled),” he remembered.
“But their support was always there in sports because they could see that I was enjoying it, I liked playing. So they said, ‘Okay, go play. If nothing happens later, then we are here to take care of it’,” he said.
But SKY made sure he never needed to use that “Plan B.”
