‘Things are on autopilot’: Suryakumar Yadav breaks silence on lean patch, says he doesn’t feel out of form

After responding to the question about his form, Suryakumar jokingly turned the microphone around, encouraging reporters to aim some of their questions at Abhishek Sharma, the Player of the Tournament who was seated next to him.

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"I've felt personally that when you are not scoring runs, it is difficult to take the team along. But Surya bhai is the same irrespective of whether he has scored runs or not," Abhishek exclaimed, supporting his captain with all of his might.

At the Asia Cup, Suryakumar had to deal with more than simply cricket. During the captains' press conference, it started with a standard handshake with Mohsin Naqvi, the head of the Asian Cricket Council and PCB. This gesture swiftly became controversial and set the tone for the rest of the event.

The problem was rekindled a few days later when Suryakumar refused to shake hands with Pakistan captain Salman Agha during the September 14 toss. The match referee was eventually forced to step in for disciplinary proceedings after a succession of gestures and altercations from both sides.

"I feel it was not that difficult [to deal with]," Suryakumar said. "The boys took it in their stride. Since day one, I was just telling them to focus on cricket and enjoy the game. The boys took it in a positive way. We were very focused in every game."

Despite everything that transpired, Suryakumar emphasized that there was a greater sense of satisfaction with India's position leading up to the T20 World Cup, where they are the defending champions, early next year.

"What we wanted to achieve in this tournament, we have achieved," he said. "There are a lot of things which you don't get to achieve in a bilateral tournament. This was like a knockout tournament.

"As soon as we entered the Super Four, I told the boys that let's approach it like a quarter-final, semi-final and final. So we played a semi-final type of game against Sri Lanka, and then it was a perfect final. There are nerves, responsibility and pressure, and it was a perfect final."

When asked about half-centurion and Player of the Match Tilak Varma — the only player to receive little mention in an unusually long press conference — Suryakumar shifted the focus to the team as a whole.

"I wouldn't want to point out one player," he said. "From the first game to the final, a lot of players came in and stepped up at crucial moments. Tilak played an unbelievable knock in the final. We've seen him do that before. Kuldeep [Yadav] and Varun [Chakravarthy] came back with the ball. This is just not about the final. Throughout the journey in the tournament, we've stepped up and seized small moments. This was a collective effort."