Mumbai captain Yadav armed with cricket leadership bible, The Art of Captaincy

Suryakumar Yadav has spoken to past captains to fine-tune his leadership skills

Suryakumar Yadav has been constantly reminded about Mumbai’s rich legacy of winning the Ranji Trophy a record 40 times ever since the selectors handed him the captaincy. Mumbai open their Ranji Trophy campaign against Jammu & Kashmir at the Wankhede Stadium tomorrow.

Mumbai skipper Suryakumar Yadav (left) performs a catching drill with teammate Wasim Jaffer at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Suresh KK.

Although Yadav has led Mumbai in limited overs cricket, the 24-year-old is well aware that four-day Ranji Trophy matches is a different ball game. For inspiration, Yadav has started reading former England skipper Mike Brearley’s leadership bible, The Art Of Captaincy.

“One thing that I learnt from whatever little I have read is that the key to successful captaincy is keeping it simple. One often complicates things during captaincy. I will look to keep things simple,” Yadav told mid-day after a near three-hour practice session at Wankhede yesterday.

Yadav has also spoken to past captains to fine-tune his leadership skills.

“I met Ajit Agarkar, who was an aggressive captain. I also spoke to Wasimbhai (Jaffer). He will be around so that will be a great help. I am not going to put pressure on myself. The team that wins most sessions is sure to win the game. There will be pressure but I am going to enjoy it,” he said.

With many youngsters in the side, Yadav feels they can connect with him in a better way. “We all have played together and against each other on a number of occasions so that will really help the team,” he said. However, on the personal front, Yadav, who has just four centuries in 25 first-class matches, would also look to shed the inconsistency tag especially now with the added responsibility of leading the side.

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