T20 World Cup 2022: "People will start targeting someone like Suryakumar Yadav" - Pragyan Ojha wants entire India top order to deliver
Pragyan Ojha wants the entire Indian top order to step up and deliver and not rely solely on Suryakumar Yadav in the knockout phase of the T20 World Cup 2022.
The Men in Blue will face England in the second semi-final of the global T20 tournament in Adelaide on Thursday, November 10. They will hope Yadav is at his belligerent best in the crunch game.
During an interaction on India Today, Ojha was asked what India's batting would do if Yadav fails to click. He responded:
"Whatever has happened in the past, you can be really happy about it, but in the future, into the semi-finals or if India goes ahead and plays the finals, people will start targeting someone like Suryakumar Yadav."
The former Indian spinner believes England would have formulated their plans to tackle India's Mr. 360. He elaborated:
"They have been watching him very closely. I am very sure England would have planned really well against him because they know he is a guy who has been really, really doing it for the Indian team when they needed him the most."
Ojha pointed out that it was Yadav's blazing knock that helped India post a mammoth total against Zimbabwe. He observed:
"In the last game, the fifty that Suryakumar Yadav got, had he not got that, I think India was well under 150. That is something which all the teams must be noting down. That is the reason I am saying when you are playing knockouts, it is not one individual."
Lighting up Melbourne with some audacious shots 🎆
Suryakumar Yadav was in sizzling touch against Zimbabwe 🤩
#ZIMvIND | #T20WorldCup https://t.co/brCzuoY4ev
Yadav smashed an unbeaten 61 off just 25 balls against the Chevrons, scoring his runs at a strike rate of 244.00. KL Rahul, who had a strike rate of 145.71, was the only other Indian batter to score at more than 120 runs per 100 balls.
"You will want four to five heroes" - Pragyan Ojha feels Suryakumar Yadav cannot take all the pressure and responsibility
Ojha wants all top-order Indian batters to split the responsibility amongst themselves. He said:
"It's the entire top order that has to come and deliver. They should equally divide the pressure amongst themselves. You will not want a superhero, you will want four to five heroes for the last two days where they can manage everything in between themselves."
While expecting Rishabh Pant to play, Ojha concluded by pointing out that the onus should not be on just one guy to deliver the goods. The cricketer-turned-analyst stated:
"We have seen KL Rahul coming back into form. We know Rohit Sharma is a big-match player and then we have got Virat, he has been in outstanding form, Surya and Hardik Pandya are there and I am expecting Rishabh Pant to play. It cannot be one guy every time taking the pressure and responsibility on himself."
Ravi Shastri backs Rishabh Pant to play in the Semi Finals against England 🔥 https://t.co/pntfS5uvkk
Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav have been India's star performers with the bat in the T20 World Cup thus far. While Rahul seems to be coming into his own with half-centuries in the last two games, none of the other Indian players have even aggregated 100 runs in the tournament thus far.