Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had decided to retire from T20 cricket after the World Cup victory at Bridgetown two years ago.
This edition could mean the end of the road for Suryakumar Yadav.
There has been no discussion officially, but it is unlikely that Surya, 35, will be allowed to continue when the next T20 World Cup takes place in 2028, in Australia and New Zealand.
Even if Surya doesn’t make an announcement after Sunday’s final, he is expected to make an announcement before India’s next series.
Several names who could succeed Surya have been doing the rounds. Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer are in the running, but their fitness concerns have made the selectors go slow on any decision. Perhaps IPL 2026 could throw some clues on Surya’s successor.
Vice-captain Axar Patel will be the dark horse unless Shubman Gill makes a comeback. Sunil Gavaskar has already lauded Axar’s all-round performance, saying he has the batting, bowling and cricketing intelligence to be an ideal successor for Ravindra Jadeja.
Surya didn’t wish to throw any clue before the biggest day of his leadership career. He stressed staying in the present and “being courageous” in their moment of reckoning.
“I think the mantra has been very clear in this tournament. You have to be in the present as much as possible,” he said.
“I know it is very difficult. It’s a human tendency. You get excited when you play the league stage and qualify for Super Eight. You’re already thinking about, oh yes, we’ll play a semi-final. We’ll get to play a final at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
“But it’s important to stay in the present, be relaxed because when you try and jump guns, you miss your steps and you might fall down as well... like how it happened with us in the first game of Super Eight. But then it happens.
“We picked everything at the right time, we tightened our screws at the right time and then since then we never looked back. Still, we want to keep it very simple. As we were at the Wankhede, we wanted to be very relaxed, be in the present and not think about what will happen in the final.”
