The Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the vice captain of the side, Axar Patel, was not happy with him being dropped from the side in the 2026 T20 Men's World Cup. The backstory came upfront after days of retaining the title. Recently, Sky had a conversation with the Indian Express where he said that when India lost against South Africa in the Super 8, he found Axar Patel visibly angry.

Surya described how he confronted Axar Patel. The all-rounder initially shrugged it off professionally before having an actual conversation the next day. Surya recalled it saying,

“He was very angry, and he should have been. He’s an experienced player, he leads a franchise. He should be angry. I apologised. I told him I made a mistake and I’m sorry, but it was a call taken for the team. It was a hard conversation. He took it in his stride and we talked it through the next day.” 

Notably, since the 1992 World Cup, there has hardly been a big tournament where an in-position vice captain has been dropped from a match! In the 1992 ODI World Cup, vice captain Ravi Shastri getting dropped had its reason. But for Axar Patel, it was clueless. In the 9 matches played in the ICC T20 Men's World Cup, Axar Patel did not play against the Netherlands in the group stage and against South Africa in the Super 8. 

Against the Netherlands, he was rested for a minor injury. But against the Pretea, he was dropped. As a result, India lost by 76 runs, with the middle order crumbling down. 

Read also: Suryakumar Yadav Reveals Advice That Revived Sanju Samson

India chose Washington Sundar to replace Axar. On the paper, it was a good response against South Africa's left-handers. Even the coaching staff later clarified that Washi was kept to pick a few wickets in the powerplay. But the match did not follow the paper.

The loss almost put India in a position where every match was crucial. As Suryakumar said, the match against Zimbabwe was a pre-quarterfinal, followed by the West Indies contest, which seemed like a quarterfinal. Surya said,

“India vs South Africa was the eye-opener. I never had any doubt in this team, but it tightened our screws. After that there was no option of coming back. For us, Zimbabwe was a pre-quarter-final. West Indies was the quarter-final. Then the semis and the final. We had to play every game like a knockout.”

The team worked on the flaws. Their fielding, which was actually a big concern throughout the tournament, improved significantly. But keeping aside the team effort, it was Sanju Samson's grit that took India to the win in the match against the West Indies. Otherwise, retaining the trophy would have still been a dream.