India’s middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has been receiving praise from all corners for his sensational run in the T20I format. The world’s No. 1-ranked T20I batter and the leading T20I run-getter of the year has set the stage on fire with his back-to-back batting performances. SKY has notched up two blistering centuries along with several match-winning knocks in 2022. He was also the second-highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup.
While everyone is in awe of Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliance based on his T20 batting, however, not many noticed his struggles in the recently-concluded ODI series in New Zealand.
Well, Surya carried on his blazing form from Australia to New Zealand, where he smashed 111 not out off 51 balls to give India a crushing victory of the hosts. While he was brilliant in the T20I series, he couldn’t get going in the ODI format. He could only manage to score 4, 34 not out, and 6 in the 3 ODIs. In the three innings that he played, Suryakumar got out cheaply twice in a similar fashion, poking his bat to a delivery bowled outside the off stump. Also known as classic Test lengths, these deliveries are known for running many batter’s Test careers. Despite his Midas touch, SKY looked clueless against these deliveries.
According to former India opener Wasim Jaffer, his recent dismissals against New Zealand exposed a massive flaw in his game to the fore. Jaffer explained how SKY had developed a habit of swinging his bat at anything bowled outside the off stump, playing too much T20 and since there wasn’t anyone in the slips cordon, he survived. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Wasim Jaffer feels SKY needs to get rid of these vulnerabilities if he wants to succeed in Test cricket. He said:
“Yes, he got out in the same fashion in both ODIs as he was caught by the slip fielder. In T20 cricket, there is no slip, so you survive. But as his career expands, people are now talking about how he may play Test matches, then he needs to improve on this aspect,”
