In its quest for an undisputed No.4 batter, India have pinned hopes on Shreyas Iyer, who has returned after a long injury layoff. The premier batter had a forgetful outing against Pakistan in India's Asia Cup 2023 opener which was his first international outing since the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the absence of Iyer, many had fancied superstar Suryakumar Yadav to become a natural successor.
However, stars didn't align for SKY as the middle-order embraced a lean patch in the 50-over format. Before the start of the Asia Cup, Suryakumar plied his trade in 26 One Day Internationals (ODIs). The top-ranked T20I batter had achieved an average of only 24.33 in 26 ODIs. In India's three-match ODI series against the West Indies, Suryakumar scored 19, 24 and 35 before being named in the Asia Cup squad.
Talking about Suryakumar's bitter-sweet season in the World Cup year, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar explained how the under-fire batter can spark a turnaround in the ODIs. “He has already said that Rahul Dravid is there, and he has spoken to him. The biggest factor is that boundaries don’t come that easily in the middle part of the innings. When three or four wickets go, then how do you find the boundaries is the big problem because the ball becomes old? In a T20 match, the ball remains solid for the entire innings. In ODIs, in the last five overs for each team, the ball becomes soft because of which you don’t get boundaries that easily. And the second thing is, every batsman needs to find that formula on how to score runs," Bangar told Star Sports.
'I don’t think he is clear in his head'
"And Suryakumar Yadav is a versatile player, that he definitely targets boundaries and where to hit them. He has a very good idea of where to hit them, but if there is one thing he needs to do, it is to find out how to bat between the 25th and the 40th over. I don’t think he is clear in his head and heart about how to score runs in this period. He can play like he does in the T20 format, but if wickets fall, he needs to find out how to rotate strike between the 25th and the 40th over, and he needs to find his own method to score runs here which he is obviously thinking about,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}"And Suryakumar Yadav is a versatile player, that he definitely targets boundaries and where to hit them. He has a very good idea of where to hit them, but if there is one thing he needs to do, it is to find out how to bat between the 25th and the 40th over. I don’t think he is clear in his head and heart about how to score runs in this period. He can play like he does in the T20 format, but if wickets fall, he needs to find out how to rotate strike between the 25th and the 40th over, and he needs to find his own method to score runs here which he is obviously thinking about,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Before India's previous bilateral ODI series against the West Indies, Suryakumar had a disastrous run when Rohit and Co. hosted Australia. SKY recorded three consecutive first-ball ducks against Australia in the ODI series. The 32-year-old was overlooked by the Indian think tank for the group stage match clash with Pakistan at the Asia Cup. However, he has been picked in India's squad for the ICC World Cup. Suryakumar played a gritty knock of 35 off 30 balls in his previous ODI appearance for India.
‘Feel that Rohit and Rahul will be thinking the same’
“According to me, if the team has an opening where he can play, he definitely should. But to put him in the starting eleven only for him to get game time, I don’t think the team needs to do all of that. I feel that Rohit and Rahul (Dravid) will be thinking the same thing. I think they will play only with batsmen who make the proper combinations, and who make the final starting eleven, they should get most of the playing time,” Bangar concluded.