By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Captain Suryakumar Yadav has earned the dubious distinction of failing in all the three major tournament finals in the last two years in which India won two and lost one.
Yadav showed lackluster performance in the all three tournaments’ finals – ICC World Cup final in 2023 in Ahmedabad, 2024 ICC T-20 world cup final in Bridgetown and now Asia Cup 2025 final in Dubai. As a batter, Yadav remained unimpressive though he showed some spark as a captain by including Rinku Singh in the Asia Cup final, a decision praised by many cricket lovers.
It all began in the 2023 final at Ahmedabad where India was defeated by Australia by six wickets. Yadav was sent with great hopes to bat at a delicate stage when K L Rahul was out after 41.3 overs with India’s score at 211/7. At this crucial juncture, Yadav could manage to add only 18 runs in 28 balls and failed to accelerate the score in the slog overs. The result was that India was all out at 240. Australia reached the target with 42 balls to spare thanks to an impressive century by Travis Head.
Last year, Yadav again flunked at Bridgetown in the T-20 final under the captainship of Rohit Sharma. In this final also, Yadav could contribute only 3 runs before he gave an easy catch to Heinrich Klasen on the bowling of Kagiso Rabada. However, India managed to defeat South Africa aided by Viral Kohli’s stellar 76 off 59 balls. India managed to score 176/7 in the final. The Proteas failed to chase the target and lost by 7 runs. India won the cup.
On Sunday in Dubai, Yadav again failed in the crucial final against arch-rivals Pakistan as his poor form with the bat continued. He scored only one run off five balls before being caught by Salman Ali Ayub on the bowling of Shaheen Afridi. The dismissal of Yadav left the defending Champions in a precarious position at 10/2 in just 2/3 overs that put big pressure on the middle order. Thanks to Tilak Varma and others, India chased the target in the final over.
Yadav, however, brushed concerns over his battling slump insisting that he is not out of form but simply short of runs at the moment. “If you’re saying I’m out of form, I don’t think that’s the case – I’m not out of form, I’m just out of runs,” he said at Dubai after the final.