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India's T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav has revealed that his decision to include Ishan Kishan in the team was driven by instinct, with the wicketkeeper-batter’s innate ability to turn matches in India's favour being a key factor.
After the T20 World Cup squad announcement, Suryakumar’s approach to team selection was put under the microscope with many cricket pundits questioning his choices.
And one of the main talking points was choosing Ishan Kishan over Jitesh Sharma for the T20 World Cup squad, prompting him to reveal whether instinct or data drove his choices.
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Suryakumar was asked whether his decision was guided by statistical analysis or instinctive intuition.
"It was completely on gut, a little bit on data. It (the decision) was very harsh on Jitesh Sharma at that time because he was playing with the team for over a year. And he was playing, had he not been playing, then the story would have been different," Suryakumar said in a podcast interview with PTI Videos on Sunday.
Suryakumar attributed his batting success to instinct and reaction, a philosophy that guided his leadership approach.
"I was also very sad when we had to pick Ishan over Jitesh. But we needed an opener who could fire at the top, so someone had to miss out."
He disclosed how Kishan came into the squad: Suryakumar rang the 27-year-old and asked, "Chhotu, World Cup jitayega?" (Will you get us the World Cup?). Kishan responded, "Bharosa karogey?" (Do you trust me?) to which Suryakumar said: "Chal kiya" (Done).
"And the way he played was amazing ... I always knew that he can be the X-factor because he has no baggage," Suryakumar recalled.