VISAKHAPATNAM: Surya­kumar Yadav is excited to lead India in the forthcoming home T20 International series against Australia but says it will take time to move on from the heartbreaking loss in the ODI World Cup final three days ago.

Both India and Australia return to the field in the opening game of the five-match T20 series starting in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, albeit with a different set of players, 96 hours after the World Cup final in Ahmedabad under lights.

Yadav, who could have done more in India’s near-perfect campaign in the World Cup, was expectedly asked about the ill-fated Sunday night on the eve of the T20 series opener.

“It is difficult it will take time, it can’t be that you wake up next morning and you forget everything what happened. It was a long tournament. We would have loved to win it,” the right-handed Yadav, who will lead the side in Hardik Pandya’s absence, told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.

“But as you get up in the morning the sun rises again, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You have to move on. It is a fresh team [T20 squad], really looking forward to the challenge.”

Yadav said support from fans and families is helping him and the rest of the Indian cricketers to move on from the disappointment in the World Cup decider where the hosts suffered a seven-wicket thrashing at the hands of Pat Cummins and his men.

“Obviously, a little disappointing but when you look back at the journey it was a great campaign. All of India and our families were proud about the way everyone displayed their talent on the ground.

“We played a positive brand of cricket throughout the tournament. We can be very proud of that,” the 33-year-old said.

Captain Rohit Sharma was the game changer for India with the bat in the World Cup as his explosive starts helped the team win a record 10 games in a row.

“He [Rohit] has set the example. It was a completely different Rohit Sharma, he walked the talk. What we talked about in team meetings he did the same thing in the ground. We are very proud of him, he led by example and hopefully we will replicate that [in the T20s],” Yadav said.

Rohit, Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul are not part of the squad announced for the Australia series, having played their last T20 match in the World Cup last year.

The T20 squad is full of IPL performers who are yet to prove themselves at the highest level. The likes of Rinku Singh, who made his debut in Ireland and was also part of the Asian Games, and Tilak Varma, will face their toughest test in international cricket against Australia.

“I met the squad in the afternoon today. I told them ‘let’s be selfless when you go on to the field’. I am a guy who doesn’t think about personal milestones. I have told them to keep the team first,” Yadav said.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2023