Suryakumar Yadav averages over 50 in his brief ODI career so far.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was effusive in his praise for the "late bloomer" Suryakumar Yadav, crediting the 31-year-old for solving India's long-standing middle-order woes.
Suryakumar's impressive numbers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) have long piqued the selectors' interest, but he only broke into the side last year before making the T20 World Cup team. He has only played seven ODIs so far, but he has put up impressive numbers as a middle-order option, scoring 261 runs at 65.25 with two half-centuries.
Gavaskar praised Suryakumar's batting in the middle order, saying that while he was a late bloomer, he made the most of his domestic cricket experience in making the transition to international cricket.
“Exactly looks like that. With the form that we have seen in the last couple of years. And sometimes you can say that he has been a late bloomer as far as India is concerned because sometimes it helps you when you have that experience of having played that much domestic cricket for five-six years where you have played under various conditions and against different oppositions. And that helps you in international cricket. That step from first-class cricket to international cricket can be a bit too high for a lot of players. And he is bringing all that experience into play,” he told Star Sports ahead of the start of the third ODI.
The former skipper also believes that Surya has all the shots in the book and it is his temperamental test that has set him apart from the rest of his middle-order rivals.
“All of us know the capability he has, that flick for a six is an amazing shot. Because the bowler hasn't bowled a bad ball, it's just this man has got a great ability to whip the ball for a six. He has got all the shots. But in the last couple of games, it has been his temperament that has stood the test. And for me temperament separates the men from the boys. And it has certainly separated him from the others.”
Suryakumar guided India past the target of 177 in the first ODI against West Indies, scoring an unbeaten 34 off 36 balls, before scoring an 83-ball 64 under pressure in the second ODI amid a top-order collapse.