'He needs to spend time with the batting coach': Gavaskar ridicules Suryakumar after second straight golden duck
Disappointed as the missed opportunities, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar ridiculed Suryakumar for his technical fault.
Suryakumar Yadav has been a phenom in T20 batting. Ever since bursting into fame in IPL for Mumbai Indians and then into the Indian T20I team, Suryakumar has been unstoppable in the shortest format of the match where he eventually rose to the top spot in the ICC batting rankings in October last year and has dominated since then. However, the India star has failed to crack the code in ODIs as he suffered a second successive golden duck in the series against Australia. Disappointed as the missed opportunities, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar ridiculed Suryakumar for his technical fault. (India vs Australia, 2nd ODI Live Score)
The Australia series was a golden opportunity for Suryakumar with much-prefred No.4 batter Shreyas Iyer absent with an injury. However, he was dismissed by left-armer Mitchell Starc in similar fashion for the same score in back-to-back matches.
Speaking to Star Sports after India were dismissed for 117, their lowest ever score at home against Australia, Gavaskar pointed out that Suryakumar's batting stance is that of T20 cricket, explaining that a similar ball could have been flicked for a six in the shorted format but in ODIs, he becomes a candidate for lbw. The former India captain also couldn't stop laughing as he advised Suryakumar to ask his batting coach in a bid to come out of this difficulty.
“He is facing technical difficulties. Also his stance is an open one. It is good for T20 cricket because any delivery that is overpitched, he can flick it for a six. But here, when the ball is placed right near the foot, with this stance, the bat will definitely come across. It cannot come straight. Hence, if the ball turns inside, he will face difficulty. He needs to spend time with the batting coach on how to come out of this," he said.
Suryakumar has overall failed to make an impact in the format. In 20 innings he has scored just 433 runs at 25.47 comprising only two half-centuries, the last of which came more than a year back.
Overall, India managed to score just 117 with Starc picking his ninth five-wicket haul while Nathan Ellis and Sean Abbot picked the remaining five betwen themselves. The fi-fer put the left-armer at par with Shahid Afridi and Brett Lee in the list of most such figures in ODI cricket as they now stand third in the list behind Waqar Younis (13) and Muttiah Muralitharan (10).
