“He is learning the 50-over game a little bit” - Rahul Dravid on Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI woes
Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has stated that Suryakumar Yadav is still in a learning phase with regard to his ODI career. Sharing his views on the batter’s contrasting T20I and ODI fortunes, Dravid explained that the T20 format is slightly different from ODIs.
Suryakumar has had a torrid time in the ongoing ODI series against Australia. He was dismissed for golden ducks by Mitchell Starc in the first two matches. On both occasions, he was trapped lbw, beaten by the left-arm seamer’s pace and movement.
The 32-year-old has failed to come up with a significant ODI knock for a while now. Since his half-century against West Indies in Ahmedabad in February 2022, he has registered a highest score of 34* in 14 ODI innings. SKY might not have even featured in the playing XI, but for the injury to Shreyas Iyer.
Sharing his views on Suryakumar’s ODI struggles, Dravid said at a press conference on Tuesday, March 21:
"Obviously, it's unfortunate for Shreyas (Iyer) to get injured - he's one of those guys we think will bat for us at No.4 and he has been given a lot of time in that position. Not really concerned so much about Suryakumar. He got two first-ballers against two pretty good balls.
"One of the things about Surya is he is also learning the 50-over game a little bit. The T20 game is slightly different.”
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Urging everyone to show patience with Suryakumar with regards to his ODI form, the Indian legend added:
"Even though he hadn't played for India for a long time, in T20 cricket, he played nearly ten years of IPL, which is a tournament which is like international cricket. He has played a lot of high-pressure T20 games but in one-day cricket, there's no equivalent tournament in domestic cricket, you'll have to play Vijay Hazare [Trophy] and all that.
“We just need to give him some time and be patient with him. We certainly see the upside of him doing well, which is very good for the side."
Having made his one-day debut in July 2021, SKY has featured in 22 matches, scoring 433 runs at an average of 25.47 and a strike rate of 102.36, with two half-centuries.
Suryakumar Yadav’s exceptional T20I record
While the 32-year-old is yet to find his feet in one-day cricket, he has been exceptional in the T20I format for India. In 48 matches, he has smashed 1675 runs at an average of 46.52 and a strike rate of 175.76, with three hundreds and 13 fifties.
For his stupendous exploits with the bat, the Mumbai player was named the ICC Men’s T20I cricketer of 2022.