Has Suryakumar Yadav’s (SKY) power been eclipsed in ODIs of late, or is he a misfit at No. 4? Will he perform better if he is sent out to bat at No. 6 where he may have to face fewer deliveries with a huge asking rate? He has actually demonstrated his skills in such crunch situations.
With Team India putting its house in order for the upcoming ODI World Cup later this year, SKY’s poor form in ODIs is a major headache.
The second ODI between India and Australia was another SKY-fall as the star batter was again dismissed for a golden duck. In both the matches, it was pacer Mitchell Starc, who managed to get rid of SKY on the first ball!
With the T20I powerhouse batter SKY failing to open his account in both the recent ODI matches, analysts are wondering if the team management can utilise his services at some other batting slot to make him comfortable and add to the fortunes of Team India.
Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has backed SKY and suggested to the team management that SKY be sent out to bat at a later stage with a challenge for the master blaster to hit play against time and with limited deliveries as SKY is suited to play in such ruthless conditions.
“He would have gotten out on those two deliveries even in T20s. It is not that because it is ODIs, he is getting out. This is high-quality bowling irrespective of the format. He played the two ODIs now and prior to that he didn't play consistently. Shreyas was the preferred No. 4 and rightfully so and Surya was the back-up option. Where we need to be with Surya is to remind ourselves of the talent he is,” Karthik had told Cricbuzz.
However, a look at SKY’s transition from the challenging T20I to the ODIs would reveal that the beginning was not so disastrous for Yadav.
Some, however, feel that he has botched up another opportunity in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. If he takes this duck-spree to Chennai, the selectors will have to ponder on the options in order to solidify the middle order.
If SKY was the most formidable player for the T20I format, the ODIs were no different for him, at least initially. In his first six ODI outings, he had two scores of fifty-plus with a 40 and a couple of unbeaten scores in the thirties. But since then, it has been a downhill for the 32-year-old who had registered scores in this order… 9, 8, 4, 34 no, 6, 4, 31, 14, 0 and 0 in his last 10 ODIs!!! With Shreyas unavailable for the series, India decided to give SKY an extension (of sorts) in the ODI format.
If SKY has no competition at all in the T20 format, the script has gone awry in ODIs where Shreyas who not only fits the bill at number 4 but is also a threat to SKY more so with Suryakumar Yadav’s brittle form.
However, there is a slight difference between the two, and Team India very well realises that SKY has the potential to suddenly become a threat to any opposition and is capable of snatching the game from the jaws of any team. And that’s a huge advantage for SKY especially over Shreyas.
Even as SKY is struggling, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid are known to give a long leash, especially to the struggling players. Remember what they did with K.L. Rahul?
“He (SKY) has obviously shown a lot of potential with the white-ball. Of course, we have seen and he also knows that he has to do well in longer formats of the game as well. Like I said, guys with potential will be given enough runs (of matches) where they shouldn’t feel like ‘I was not given enough chances in that particular slot.’ With Surya, he needs that consistent run of games — like seven, eight-ten matches, so that he feels more comfortable,” Rohit told the media.
SKY’s string of low scores has come at a time when the batter has featured in nine of India’s last 14 matches to be precise. Since the T20 World Cup, SKY missed just three ODIs against Bangladesh and two against the Lankans when Shreyas was chosen above him.
"Right now, he has got in the place when someone has been injured or someone is not available. As management, we can look into the performance when you give that consistent run and then you feel that okay, the runs are not coming and (he is) not looking comfortable.
"Then, we will start thinking about it. Right now, we have not gone that route," Rohit told news agency ANI.
While analysing Team India’s prospects especially with the World Cup in mind, one must take into consideration all points. However, the management did have the option to choose Rajat Patidar but he was not included for the Australia series… and lest we forget Sanju Samson, a batsman who in 10 ODIs had the following scores of 46, 12, 54, 6 No., 43 No., 15, 86 No., 30 No., 2 No., 36, besides an average of 66 in 11 matches. While a knee injury (against Sri Lanka) had forced him out of the Kiwi series at home, if SKY continues to struggle in Chennai, there is no reason why team management may not look at Samson (again), as he is also Mr Devastation with the bat.