"Suryakumar Yadav will have to score runs" - Aakash Chopra says India's batting revolves around him in T20Is
Aakash Chopra feels Suryakumar Yadav needs to fire in the second T20I against the West Indies as the Indian batting revolves around him.
The second game of the five-match series will be played in Providence, Guyana, on Sunday, August 6. Suryakumar scored a run-a-ball 21 in India's four-run loss in the series opener in Trinidad and will hope to be back to his destructive best in Sunday's game.
While previewing the second T20I in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted the importance of Suryakumar firing with the bat for the visitors. He elaborated:
"SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) at No. 3 - you shouldn't read too much into one match. You shouldn't nitpick too much. This is the format that he absolutely loves. He looks better if the ball comes onto the bat, which might happen in Guyana because it won't be a used surface."
The former Indian opener added:
"However, Suryakumar Yadav will have to score runs because, although Tilak Varma has made an amazing start, he is this team's linchpin. India's batting revolves around him in T20Is. So he needs to score runs."
Suryakumar has an exceptional overall record in T20I cricket. India's Mr 360 has smashed 1696 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 174.12 in 47 T20I innings.
"He won't get to bat higher than this number" - Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson's position at No. 6
Aakash Chopra wants Sanju Samson to grab his opportunities at No. 6. He stated:
"Hardik Pandya was going at a run-a-ball, although he was just accelerating at the right time, and then he got out. Sanju Samson, unfortunately, he won't get to bat higher than this number (No. 6). So take advantage of it whatever you can."
The renowned commentator pointed out that Axar Patel needs to contribute with the bat, reasoning:
"You will have to expect batting from Axar Patel because there is slightly less depth in batting. There is no batter at No. 8 and, unfortunately, no one has been picked. It's an amazing game from the selectors."
Chopra highlighted that the Men in Blue don't have a suitable player for No. 8 as the selectors have neither picked a batting all-rounder like Shivam Dube nor a bowling all-rounder like Shardul Thakur. He concluded by observing that lack of batting depth will be India's weakness in the entire series and that their frontline batters need to fire to compensate for that.