In May earlier this year, Gautam Gambhir, who had yet to be announced as the head coach of the Indian men's cricket team, admitted that not identifying Suryakumar Yadav's true potential, even as a batter, remains his biggest and only regret in his tenure as Kolkata Knight Riders captain. Two months hence, Suryakumar, now the Indian T20I captain under coach Gambhir, responded to the remark, which left reporters in splits during the press conference in Pallekele.

While Suryakumar has been synonymous with Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where his heroics with the bat over the years helped him crack into the Indian team, he was once part of the KKR set-up between 2014 and 2017, when Gambhir was the franchise's captain and the former was elevated to the vice-captaincy role as well.

Speaking to Sportskeeda in May, Gambhir admitted: “A leader's role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential. And the reason was down to combinations. You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7."

On Friday, ahead of the start of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Stadium, Suryakumar was made aware of Gambhir's regret and he made a tongue-in-the-cheek remark which left reporters bursting into laughter.

“To abhi karlenge pura potential ko use (Let him make the most of it now),” he laughed.

The new India T20I captain then opened up on his “special” bond with Gambhir and how they have remained in touch despite not being in the same IPL franchise since 2018.

“Our bond has been special since 2014, and it's been 10 years now. In 2018, we went to two different IPL franchises but remained in touch. We kept discussing performances, matches, and where I could do better. So the process of learning continued, and it remained a very special bond for me. In the last 3-4 days, we haven't talked much, but he knows if I want to say something and vice versa and he understands me even if I don't say anything. So, I'm really excited,” he said.

The T20I series against Sri Lanka will only mark the beginning of the Gambhir era as head coach, but will also be Suryakumar's first assignment as a full-time India captain.