Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has heaped high praises on Suryakumar Yadav and believes that the 32-year-old Mumbai batsman should be in India’s starting XI in the World Cup 2023.
Suryakumar Yadav was picked in India’s 15-man squad for the World Cup 2023 ahead of Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma. While Varma was picked in the Asia Cup squad, he was unlikely to make it into the World Cup squad. For Samson, he missed out on Asia Cup selection, and that was a big indication as to where the management and selectors rate him, that is behind Suryakumar Yadav.
Harbhajan Singh said that what Suryakumar Yadav can do in the middle-order, even the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli cannot.
“I feel Suryakumar Yadav is a complete, complete player,” Harbhajan said om Star Sports. “Picking Suryakumar over Sanju is the right call.
Harbhajan backs SKY to do the kind of role MS Dhoni used to do in the middle-order.
“The game that Suryakumar has in the middle over[s], I don’t think Sanju has that game. The reliability Suryakumar gives you – he can score big. Sanju I feel plays the kind of cricket where there is a lot of chances that you get out. Whereas Suryakumar, I know a lot of people ask what has he done in ODIs, but what he has done in T20s, if his innings is only going to be that long then I feel in that position, there isn’t a better player than Suryakumar in India.
“What he can do at that position, neither Virat [Kohli] can do, nor Sanju or Rohit Sharma. Because what he does it’s a difficult job, batting at [No.] 5-6. What [MS] Dhoni has done, what Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh] has done.”
On any day Suryakumar Yadav can play a match-winning innings: Harbhajan
The number 1 T20I batsman in the world, Suryakumar Yadav has failed to translate his T20 success into ODI cricket. After 24 ODI innings, he averages only 24.33 with a couple of fifties. But India have banked on caliber, abilities, capabilities and his potential of what he could do in the ODI format.
Elaborating on his point, Harbhajan said that batting in the middle-order is a much tougher job than batting in the top-order.
“Because batting there is the toughest,” Harbhajan added. “Opening in [one-dayers], you know where to score runs. You have a lot of time. But when you go in to bat after 20-25 overs, you need the game to know where you can find gaps to get boundaries and I don’t think anyone in the Indian team can do that better than Suryakumar. And if it was up to me, I would play him in the team. Because when he is in the team, it increases the pressure on the opposition. Whether he fires or not. Because till the time he is at the crease, there will be pressure because on any day he can play a match-winning innings. He can hit 50-60 runs in 20 balls. So you have to play a player like this.”
