"Put My Own Masala...": Suryakumar Yadav On His Learnings From Rohit Sharma's Captaincy

Suryakumar Yadav is a big fan of Rohit Sharma's leadership philosophy that inspires him to keep his flock together by understanding his players' psyche, and find balance when the chips are down. Surya, who took over as India's shortest format skipper after the victorious T20 World Cup campaign, admitted that he followed "Rohit's captaincy route" of spending a lot of time with his team off the field, which then reflects in their on-field performance. Obviously he has "customized" it as per his leadership needs.

"Winning and losing is part and parcel of sports. Everyone has done hard work. Sometimes you do well and sometimes you don't," Surya said on the eve of first T20I against South Africa when asked about India's 0-3 defeat against New Zealand.

"I have learnt from him (Rohit) that in life, balance is important, after doing well, even if you lose, your character should not change. This is one quality sportsman should have," Surya added.

For Surya, Rohit is not a captain but a leader.

"A leader is one who decides how his team plays a particular format," said world's premier T20 batter.

They have played together for Ranji side Mumbai and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians for close to a decade and Rohit's captaincy style has grown on him.

"When I am on the ground, I keep noticing him. How his body language is and how he keeps calm and how he treats his bowlers, how he speaks to everyone on and off the field. I know how he treats his players, what he wants from them.

"That route I have also taken as he has been successful. Obviously, I have put my own masala in it (his own ideas). It's been going smooth," he laughed.

For on-field chemistry, the off-field relationship and bonhomie within the team becomes very important.

"From a