India made a perfect start to the Gautam Gambhir era with new T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav leading the side to a 3-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Pallekele. While a glimpse of Gambhir's approach was outlined through the three matches, the current scene in the Indian dressing room has been of major intrigue not just among fans, but also for experts and veteran cricketers. And Suryakumar Yadav, following the series win, gave a peek into a new ritual the team members have been following, but the revelation left former cricketer Ashish Nehra and Ajay Jadeja shocked.

Speaking to Sony Sports on Tuesday after India's win via Super Over in the third T20I match, Suryakumar revealed that since the T20 World Cup tournament last month, players have been told to not sit together in small groups of two or three players, but to sit as a team. The India captain reckoned that it tends to work as a team-bonding exercise and subsequently reflects on the ground.

“We don't sit together as a team for fun only when we win a game or a series. This trend started during the World Cup, where no matter the result or performance in the game, we used to sit together. We decided that we wouldn't sit in groups of 2 or 3 people but always sit together as a team. The same thing happened during this series. This leads to better bonding between the players and reflects on the ground. It also builds that friendship and ability to stand in support of a fellow member of the team,” he said.

Jadeja, one of the experts on Sony Sports Hindi, admitted that the statement from Suryakumar left him surprised, as he felt that it should happen involuntarily in a team environment and not as a forced change.

“That is what you expect in a team sport. I'm just surprised that players are talking about this even today and it has been rather a change in the team that players won't sit in small groups. I don't know, did you not all sit together in previous teams? But again, the captain mentioned that he brought this change, although this is old,” he said.

Nehra, who was part of the panel, and was shocked at the revelation as well, was quick to point out that the off-field exercise only started from June.

“Didn't he say that this change happened during the World Cup? That happened only a month back,” he added.

Jadeja responded to the statement saying, “I'm not doubting him, but I'm rather surprised that this has only started now.”

Indian team will be back in action on August 3 for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, where Rohit Sharma will return as captain, along with Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav.

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