If the ball is in his range, Suryakumar Yadav takes no half-measures. Whether he bats at No.4, opens the innings or is sent in at any other position, ‘SKY’ will make sure he hits it if the ball is there to be hit. Focused on carrying out the role allotted to him by the Indian team management, Suryakumar banks on his flexibility which, he believes, is his actual strength.
“I’m very flexible, and I don’t keep any particular role in mind. Actually, I plan for every situation. “I am flexible to bat anywhere. Whichever number I’m asked to bat at, I know I just have to carry out my role and I am happy to do it,” Suryakumar said at a virtual news conference on the eve of India’s second T20I against Australia in Nagpur.
One of the key exponents of India’s ultra-aggressive batting approach in the shortest format, Suryakumar feels it’s quite important to gauge the pitch and the conditions. According to him, the style of play is suiting the team and they plan to continue with such an approach.
“An assessment of the pitch is very important. Everyone’s playing their role. We know our responsibilities and what we have to do in different situations.
“The openers know their roles really well and then it comes down to the middle order and how we need to set up the game up for the finishers. And in the last game, you saw how well our finishers did. “So yeah, everything is going on really well in terms of our batting and we will look to do it again and again,” Suryakumar explained.
Bowling-wise, India are not in a good situation as the bowlers have been unable to defend runs in the last three T20Is the team lost. Not just senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but even T20 specialist Harshal Patel, in his comeback game last Tuesday, was expensive.
Suryakumar, however, backed the bowlers and feels there’s no reason to panic. Asked if Harshal, in particular, needs to work further on his variations, he said: “As much as I’ve played Harshal at nets, he’s very deceptive.
“He has just come back after an injury, so this much benefit of doubt should be given to him. But yes, definitely, his slower balls and other variations are quite deceptive.”
