'I didn't work hard': Suryakumar Yadav admits he is ‘disappointed’ over biggest regret of his Indian cricket career originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:- India star Suryakumar Yadav admitted that a lack of hard work stopped him from succeeding in one-day international cricket.
- His ODI career spanned just 37 matches, yielding 773 runs at a modest average of 25.76.
- He took full responsibility for his ODI struggles, rejecting excuses around timing or team management decisions.
Suryakumar Yadav's dominance in T20 cricket has never really been in question, but his relationship with the 50-over format tells a completely different story, and the Mumbai batter has now opened up honestly about exactly why that gap exists.
Between his debut in 2021 and his last appearance in 2023, Suryakumar played just 37 ODIs, managing 773 runs at a modest average of 25.76, numbers that feel almost unrecognisable compared to his explosive T20 record.
His final outing in the format came during the gut-wrenching 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, where he could only muster 18 off 28 balls as India fell to Australia under enormous pressure.
Speaking candidly to former India opener Aakash Chopra, Suryakumar dismissed any hypothetical excuses about late debuts or missed chances, instead placing the blame squarely on his own preparation. He drew a clear distinction between his limited Test opportunities and the very different challenge ODI cricket posed.
"Hypothetically, we can say anything; had I arrived in 2016, I would have played Tests and done well in ODIs. But looking at reality, in Test cricket, I only played one match and one innings before other players returned and I didn't get another chance," he said.
"But with One-Day cricket, yes, I am definitely disappointed with myself. It's a white-ball format just like T20, but to be completely honest, I personally feel I didn't put in the hard work that the format demanded."
He then broke down just how mentally layered ODI batting actually is, describing the constant shift in gears a batter has to manage depending on the state of the game.
"In my opinion, ODI cricket is the most difficult format for a batter, whether you bat lower down the order or anywhere else," he said.
"If you bat at four, you might walk in at 0/2; if you bat at six, it could be 24/4. You have to start almost like a Test match, respect the bowlers, see them off, build your innings at a strike rate of 50 or 75, then accelerate to 100, and eventually push to 130-140 at the death like in T20s."
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How did Suryakumar Yadav take accountability for his struggles?Rather than pointing fingers at team management or inconsistent batting positions, Suryakumar admitted the topic still comes up in conversations with his wife at home, a sign of just how much this particular regret has stayed with him. He was clear that success in sport comes down directly to the effort put in behind the scenes.
"I feel I couldn't crack the method for that. Even though I knew I was likely to bat at five or six, I still didn't work hard enough to truly master that format," he said.
"Before I could blink, those 20–22 games went by so fast. As you said, I definitely have regrets about not doing well in ODI cricket, but no one else is to blame. I take full responsibility because I didn't put in the extra effort the way I do for T20s, where if I bat for an hour, I push myself to do an hour and a half.
"We have this discussion at home too. My wife asks me, 'Do you think you could have played more ODI cricket?' and I tell her, 'Yes, you're right, I didn't work hard enough.' If I didn't put in the work, I didn't get the results. Where I put in the effort, I got the rewards."
When Chopra praised him for being so brutally honest about his own shortcomings, Suryakumar kept his response simple and grounded.
"You have to look at yourself in the mirror every day, and how can you lie to the person standing in the mirror? It has to be an honest reflection," he said.
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Why does Suryakumar Yadav's honesty deserve respect?Something is refreshing about a player of Suryakumar's stature admitting he simply didn't put in enough work, rather than reaching for the usual excuses about batting position, team combinations, or limited opportunities.
Plenty of cricketers in his position would've leaned on the narrative that he was shuffled around the order too often, or that selectors never gave him a settled run, but he chose not to.
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That kind of self-accountability is rare in professional sport, where public narratives are often carefully managed to protect reputation. Suryakumar's comparison between his T20 work ethic, pushing an extra half hour of practice beyond what's required, and his apparent lack of that same intensity in ODI preparation, says a lot about how format-specific mastery actually happens.
What really stands out is him admitting that ODIs need a bit of both worlds: the patience of Test batting mixed with T20-style firepower, and that you can't just wing that combination; you've got to actually train for it. There's a real lesson in there for the next lot of young batters too, the ones who might think being brilliant in one format means the others will just fall into place. Honestly, what Suryakumar's said here could end up teaching Indian cricket more than his actual ODI scorecard ever did.
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