Former India batter Aakash Chopra has shed light on Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI struggles, lauding the star batter for candidly acknowledging his shortcomings in the 50-over format of the game. Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI form has been a bit of a mystery as he has managed just 511 runs in 26 ODIs with only two fifty-plus scores as he has not managed to repay the faith shown in him in the lead-up to the ODI World Cup.
India identified Suryakumar Yadav as a potential backup option after their mainstays like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant spent time on the sidelines due to injuries. Despite getting a lot of opportunities, Suryakumar, the World No. 1 T20I batter, has not been able to shine in the 50-over format.
In the recent ODI series against West Indies, Suryakumar Yadav’s form was a cause for concern. Suryakumar batted at No. 3 in the first ODI and then batted at No. 6 in the last two ODIs but he was not able to make an impact, managing just 78 runs across 3 innings.
Suryakumar has played 10 ODIs and scored an average of just 14 runs. This is a far cry from his T20I average of 45.6, indicating a struggle to replicate his T20 form in ODIs.
After hitting a sensational 83 in a match-winning effort in the 3rd T20I against the West Indies on August 8, Suryakumar candidly spoke to the press, acknowledging that his ODI form has been ‘very poor’ and that he has had discussions with captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid on how to go about his innings in the 50-over format while hinting that the team management has made it clear that he would bat at No. 6.
“Surya has candidly, honestly and openly accepted that his ODI record is really bad, it is nothing to be ashamed of, there is nothing to hide as well, and he already knows what everyone is saying,” Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube show.
“He also said that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have told him that he has to understand the format a little more. He is not the only one and he is not the first player as well who is taking a little time to shift from one format to the other,” he added.
ROHIT SHARMA EXAMPLE
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra highlighted how Rohit Sharma had struggled to understand the “pulse” of Test crcket and how the shift to the opener’s slot helped him flourish in the longest format of the game.
Before 2019, Rohit Sharma’s Test career had been a rollercoaster ride. He made his Test debut at Eden Gardens in Kolkata against West Indies on November 6, 2013, scoring 177, the second-highest score on debut by an Indian. However, his Test outings were often curtailed by injury, inconsistency, and India’s quality lineup.
However, the year 2019 marked a turning point in Rohit Sharma’s Test career. He was finally given the opening job, a move that many believe saved his Test career. Since then, there has been no looking back for him.
“If you look at Rohit Sharma, when he was playing in the middle-order in the initial phase of his career, you left he was not comfortable with the format. He used to bat well and then play a bad shot. People used to wonder why because everything was going well and then came the bad shot. This was at the start of his Test career. After he began opening, he understood the pulse of the format. Now it feels like Rohit has fallen in love with Test cricket. He needed some time to understand the pulse of the other format,” Chopra added.
India are likely to persist with Suryakumar Yadav in ODIs, given the uncertainty over the return of their injured stars.
