[WATCH] Suryakumar Yadav reveals his 'Mount Rushmore' of cricketers

Suryakumar Yadav was recently asked to name his personal 'Mount Rushmore' of cricket, selecting four players he considers the greatest in the history of the game. The question gave him complete freedom to pick from any era or country, yet his answer turned out to be entirely Indian.

Before settling on his four names, Suryakumar first checked whether there was a rule limiting him to one player per country. Once the host confirmed he had free rein across all of cricket history, Suryakumar's hesitation disappeared.

He had initially described the question as a difficult one. 'Very, very tricky question,' Suryakumar said. But the moment the host clarified there were no restrictions, he rattled off his answer without pause: 'Oh, it's simple. Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli,' Suryakumar said.

The four names he settled on meant that global legends such as Sir Don Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards, Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Wasim Akram were all left out. Each of Suryakumar's four picks carries a direct personal connection rather than being a purely historical assessment.

Personal connections behind each pick

Tendulkar is the earliest of those connections. Suryakumar grew up in Mumbai watching him bat, and the two later shared time on the domestic and IPL circuits, during which Tendulkar passed on batting advice to the younger player. Rohit Sharma captained Suryakumar at Mumbai Indians and played a significant role in his development as a senior cricketer. Suryakumar has spoken separately about how Rohit's biggest impact came through the way he connected with teammates, describing him as someone who makes everyone around him comfortable.

Kohli entered Suryakumar's career at the international level. Suryakumar made his India debut in 2021 when Kohli was the national captain, and he has since cited Kohli's approach to fitness and training as a reference point. In a separate conversation, Suryakumar described Kohli's physical standards by saying, 'He was a completely different beast, and still is.' The two have also shared several match-winning T20I partnerships together.

Dhoni is the one figure among the four with whom Suryakumar never shared a dressing room as a player under his captaincy. He has previously spoken about that as a regret, viewing Dhoni as a model of composed leadership in white-ball cricket. Suryakumar discussed his admiration for Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit at the JITO Connect 2025 event, where he also drew a distinction between Kohli's and Rohit's captaincy styles.

Suryakumar himself became India's T20I captain following Rohit's exit from the format after the 2024 T20 World Cup. His record in that role stands at 42 wins from 52 matches, a win rate of 80.76 per cent, which places him ahead of Rohit (79.03 per cent), Kohli (64.58 per cent) and Dhoni (59.28 per cent) among India's T20I captains. In a separate interview, when asked to choose between Tendulkar and Rohit alone, Suryakumar called it a '50-50' decision, pointing to Tendulkar as his childhood inspiration and Rohit as the captain who shaped his senior career.