Former South African captain AB de Villiers reckons Suryakumar Yadav’s return to form is definitely a warning sign to all other teams ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. SKY returned to form as he scored an unbeaten knock of 82 runs off just 37 balls in the second T20I against New Zealand with the help of nine fours and four sixes.

India was chasing a par score of 209 runs and SKY played an instrumental role in the run-chase. The Indian skipper backed it with another impressive knock of 57 runs off 26 balls in the third ODI at Guwahati on Sunday.

SKY is one of the best batters in T20Is but he wasn’t at his absolute best in 2025.

AB de Villiers said on his YouTube Channel, “If they wanted to win the World Cup, they needed their captain in form. His knock also definitely sends a big signal to the other teams in the World Cup. It had been over a year since he scored a T20I fifty. That is a long time, especially being captain; it would have played on his mind. But now that he is in form again, the rest of the team will take confidence from that, and they now look like the complete package. So it’s definitely a warning sign to all other teams.”

The former RCB batter said the only missing link in India’s T20 World Cup campaign was Suryakumar Yadav, who has now bounced back into form.

“He will be pivotal in the T20 World Cup, and it was really important for Team India to get him into form. In a chasing scenario under pressure after losing two quick wickets, him scoring a 37-ball 82 was exactly what the doctor ordered for Team India. The rest of the players seem in fine form, the bowlers and the batters; the only missing link was Suryakumar Yadav,” said De Villiers (via the aforementioned source).

SKY has scored 2902 runs in 101 T20I matches at an average of 36.28 and a blistering strike rate of 164.24.