Head coach Rahul Dravid asserted that India, and the fans, need to be “patient” with Suryakumar Yadav as the batter adapts from playing a lot of T20 cricket to the ODI format. Dravid also said that the management and selectors have narrowed down “17-18 players” for the World Cup 2023 squad and SKY certainly seems to be one of them.
The fans and media have been on the management’s necks regarding SKY following his consecutive first-ball ducks against Australia, where Mitchell Starc, into his best rhythm, dismissed the batter lbw both times.
“Not really concerned so much about Suryakumar. He got two first-ballers against two pretty good balls. One of the things about Surya is he is also learning the 50-over game a little bit. The T20 game is slightly different,” Rahul Dravid said on the eve of the 3rd ODI in Chennai.
Suryakumar Yadav has failed to translate his T20I success into ODIs so far.
After 20 ODI innings, SKY averages 25.47 in ODI cricket.
India’s Head Coach put it down to the 32-year-old not having played a lot of ODI cricket recently. Dravid explained that the benefits of Suryakumar Yadav clicking in the ODI format – that he can take down spinners in the middle-overs in Indian conditions like very few in the world could do – has pushed them to give him more chances in the ODI side.
“Even though he hadn’t played for India for a long time, in T20 cricket, he played nearly ten years of IPL, and a lot of IPL cricket, which is a tournament which is like international cricket. He has played a lot of high-pressure T20 games but in one-day cricket, there’s no equivalent tournament in domestic cricket, you’ll have to play Vijay Hazare [Trophy] and all that.
“Even though he has played a lot of T20 cricket, I think he has not played a lot of one-day cricket. We just need to give him some time and be patient with him. We certainly see the upside of him doing well, which is very good for the side,” the head coach asserted.
The 3rd ODI in Chennai, which is the series-deciding ODI, will be crucial for Suryakumar Yadav individually.
