It’s a refreshing sight when an international cricketer of some repute doesn’t hesitate in pointing out his failures in public and vows to keep working on them. Suryakumar Yadav’s struggles in ODIs have been quite apparent and the India batter hasn’t shied away from terming his numbers in the format as ‘very poor’ in the past.
And he’s not giving any excuses behind his poor run in one-day cricket that saw him being dismissed for a golden duck three times in a row during an ODI series against Australia at home earlier this year.
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Suryakumar has admitted he finds one-day cricket as the most challenging format as it requires him to incorporate the elements of the other two variants – Tests and T20Is – and strike a balance between them.
Known for his unorthodox shot-making that allows him to play with the field settings as per his whims, Suryakumar will be hoping to get some good numbers against his name with reportedly just a week left before India announces a 15-man squad for the ODI World Cup.
He’s part of the 2023 Asia Cup squad and will have two matches – vs Pakistan and vs Nepal – to show his progress before the final list is announced.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar thinks that Suryakumar will do well to learn from Virat Kohli how to build innings in longer formats.
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Kohli is known to score a significant percentage of his runs in singles and doubles and not just rely on boundaries.
“Suryakumar Yadav is a very honest cricketer,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports. “A couple of things, firstly his return to ODIs where he got out thrice on the first delivery he faced against Australia. If the same scenario comes across ahead in the future where two or three wickets are down and Suryakumar Yadav has to bat, then he should focus on his defensive tactics because sometimes in the 50-overs format, defensive tactics and preparation probably are handier for a batsman. And as we witnessed, Virat Kohli is highly focused and practicing to take singles during the camp session.”
Manjrekar pointed out that unlike T20s, one-day cricket isn’t just a game of hitting boundaries and Suryakumar must cut down his reliance on them in the format.
“This 50-overs format is a less exciting format of cricket for me because 60-70 percent of runs come by singles, doubles, and triples. It’s not a game of fours and sixes, where players need to focus and practice around it, and Suryakumar Yadav can manage it,” Manjrekar said.
“The other thing that Suryakumar Yadav possesses is in IPL or T20 cricket format he scores runs at a strike rate of 200. His number of fours is always higher than sixes. He is somebody who likes to hit along with the ground. He likes to hit grounded shots and boundaries – fours and sixes but not just focusing on hitting sixes. SKY has the potential. It’s a matter of confidence and belief that he belongs here,” he added.
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