Suryakumar Yadav’s father, Ashok Kumar Yadav, whose name came up in many interviews that Suryakumar gave off the field and also on the field.
Ashok Kumar Yadav played a very crucial role in making Suryakumar Yadav what he is in the cricketing world right now because the efforts he put in, even being an Electrical engineer at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), which has nothing to do with cricket, he still kept watching all his games from his young teen times to the World Cup trophy lifting as the captain.
Ashok Kumar Yadav hails from a very highly educated professional and academic background where dedication, hard work, and a disciplined approach are emphasized. He comes from Ghazipur, a district located in Uttar Pradesh, but later on, moved to Maharashtra after working for a few years as a professional to give his family a better financial future.
Profession: Ashok Kumar Yadav is an eminent scientist and engineer. He dedicated all of his efforts to his duties within government service. For many years, he served as a senior official and chief engineer at the globally renowned nuclear research center, the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), located in Mumbai.
Family Life: Along with his wife, Swapna Yadav, he headed a tightly knit middle-class family residing in the protected BARC colony of Anushakti Nagar, Chembur. He instilled strong moral values and academic commitment in his two children - Suryakumar and Dinal.
The Retirement Milestone: Following his distinguished career as a nuclear scientist at the prestigious BARC, Ashok Kumar Yadav retired in May 2025.
Although Ashok Kumar prefers being low-key and does not indulge in the traditional media circuit at all, he remains a known and greatly respected personality among committed cricket fans. He is often seen seated in style within the VIP box sections, accompanied by his daughter-in-law Devisha Shetty, proudly watching over his son’s play during important international series as well as Indian Premier League (IPL) games.
He has created quite a few sensational viral moments with his media appearances:
The Viral Retirement Speech: Suryakumar participated in the retirement ceremony of his father for BARC, which took place in Chembur in late May 2025 during his break from IPL matches. Suryakumar's speech was highly emotional and humorous, and it became widely popular on the internet. Addressing an audience comprising scientists as well as employees of the BARC, Suryakumar declared his father as his own “Superman.” Upon seeing the tribute video of his father, Suryakumar playfully jibed him, saying he did not know his father could sing so beautifully, as he had never done so in his presence.
The Grand Themed Wedding: Ashok Kumar was heavily featured by media outlets in late November 2024 during the spectacular themed wedding of his daughter, Dinal Yadav, in Navi Mumbai. Candid photographs showcased him actively managing traditional family welcoming rituals and celebrating alongside his children.
Grandparent Highlights: His family recently celebrated an incredibly joyous milestone. On May 7, 2026, Suryakumar and Devisha welcomed their first child, a beautiful baby girl named Riddhima. The newborn's arrival brought immense warmth to the family circle, with fans flooding social media to congratulate the proud grandparents on the new addition to the Yadav household.
It was actually the emotional support of Ashok Kumar Yadav that helped turn Suryakumar into an able captain of the national team from the active neighborhood boy he used to be. Since his family needed to shift to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh due to his engineering profession, young Suryakumar, aged just 10, had already made a mark on Ashok Kumar, primarily for his coordination skills and game-playing ability.
Although Ashok Kumar hailed from an intelligent family, where people pursued their careers in other serious sectors, he encouraged his son to pursue sports. But not just that, he also played an active role in enrolling his son in some classes for cricket coaching in the BARC colony, and later on, he led his son to some famous cricket coaching institutes like Elphinstone Vengsarkar Academy.
What is more significant is that he created a stress-free household atmosphere where Suryakumar could build up his fearless batting technique. Suryakumar has remembered gratefully how much stress his father had gone through during the day in the nuclear laboratory, but he never came back carrying this stress into the house.
The teachings of his father about how one should treat everyone equally, self-discipline, and humbleness during unprecedented success have greatly influenced the way Suryakumar leads now.
Today, as Suryakumar guides the next generation of Indian cricketers on the world stage, the grounded wisdom he gained from his father remains his ultimate guiding anchor.
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