There are several enigmas surrounding Suryakumar Yadav. On the one hand, he is widely considered the finest Twenty20 batsman of all time due to the radical changes he has introduced to the format. Many consider him India’s first true Twenty20 batting specialist. Yet, this coin has two sides. No one, not even those who acknowledge Suryakumar’s superiority in Twenty20 cricket, expected him to have such a difficult time in One-Day Internationals. The age of “limited-overs cricketers” and “white-ball specialists” has not yet fully passed, but SKY is likely the first of that group. The T20 format is gradually becoming more distinct from the 50-over one.
A sample case study might look something like SKY. With a strike rate of 175, he has scored 1675 runs in T20Is. He’s scored three centuries while facing and beating pace, bounce, and spin from every corner of the globe.
In ODIs, he has a miserable batting average of 25, has only scored two half-centuries, and has only reached double digits three times in his past ten innings. He has struggled against Australia, namely against Michell Starc’s huge inswingers.
Should India be concerned about his current form in one-day internationals? Nevertheless, Rahul Dravid, the head coach, disagrees. The team’s head coach was disappointed that the injured Shreyas Iyer, who was supposed to bat fourth, would not be able to participate in the series. Meanwhile, the coach felt bad for Suryakumar Yadav.
Dravid has indicated that his experience in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is on par with international cricket in terms of quality and intensity, is a big factor in SKY’s success in Twenty20 Internationals.
What did Rahul Dravid say about Suryakumar Yadav?
Dravid was questioned about the makeup of India’s Eleven for Wednesday’s decisive game in Chennai and he responded that the bilaterals are mostly about testing out various combinations in preparation for the ODI World Cup.
“Obviously. it is unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured. He is probably one of those guys who would bat at No.4 and be given a lot of time at that position. If you notice we have stuck to the people in positions. For two years leading into this run, there is a lot of T20 cricket played and we did not have a lot of one-day cricket and if there are injuries and all that, we do have options,” Dravid said on Tuesday.
“Not really concerned about Surya. He got two very good balls (in the first two ODIs). One of the things about Surya is that he is learning the 50-overs game. The T20 is slightly different. In T20, he has played 10 years of IPL. He (Surya) has played a lot of T20 cricket. He has played a lot of high-pressure T20 games. Even though he has played a lot of t20 cricket I think he has not played a lot of one-day cricket. We need to give him some time and be patient with it. We certainly see the upside of him doing well,” he added.
