India A’s squads for the upcoming tour of New Zealand were announced by the BCCI on Monday and once again there was no mention of Surya Kumar Yadav. Surya Kumar is a seasoned campaigner at the domestic level as he has played 73 first-class, 88 List A and 149 T20s and scored 4,920, 2,311 and 3,012 runs respectively.
In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he smashed 392 runs in 11 matches at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 168.96. He ended the tournament as the third-highest run-scorer. Yadav has also performed well in the Indian Premier League for his previous franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and current franchise Mumbai Indians. Yadav is a very talented, skillful and gutsy batsman and he is respected and admired by all the big names in the Mumbai Indians squad and coaching staff.
But, despite his good, consistent performances, Surya Kumar Yadav was overlooked by the selectors yet again while picking squads for India A’s upcoming tour of New Zealand. This came as a big shock for Surya’s supporters because recently, he scored an unbeaten hundred for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.
Surya Kumar Yadav’s former Mumbai Indians’ teammate and a legend of Indian cricket, Harbhajan Singh has expressed his disappointment over his exclusion from India A’s squad. He posted an angry tweet asking the national selectors “What has Surya Kumar done wrong apart from scoring runs?”.
He also questioned the selection criteria and asked a pointed question that why there are different rules for different players?
“I keep wondering what’s wrong @surya_14kumar hv done ? Apart from scoring runs like others who keep getting picked for Team india india/A india /B why different rules for different players ???,” Harbhajan Singh wrote on Twitter.
I keep wondering what’s wrong @surya_14kumar hv done ? Apart from scoring runs like others who keep getting picked for Team india india/A india /B why different rules for different players ???
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 24, 2019
Many fans agreed with Harbhajan’s views and came in support of Surya Kumar Yadav. You can read some of the replies on Bhajji’s tweet here:
I completely agree that SuryaKumar Yadav should be given a chance – Can we have a twitter movement to atleast have him in contention : #SelectSuryaYadav pic.twitter.com/55xtRoUA9i
— Anuj Sobti 297 (@297Anuj) December 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/Shinde25sneha/status/1209406151541944320
It is not a fair world. Why is that so hard for disgruntled ex-players to understand? For what it is worth though, @surya_14kumar deserves a chance in place of Kedar. It will happen eventually. Till then, chill!
— Sidharth Singh (@sid08harth) December 24, 2019
The only reason I can find he is not a poster boy like others and not has his own social Media PR Team Bhajji Pa
— funny_cricketer (@Funny_Raul) December 24, 2019
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