Suryakumar Yadav has taken the cricketing world by storm with his batting exploits in the shortest format of the game. In 48 T20Is so far, the dashing right-hander has amassed 1675 runs at an impressive average of 46.53 and a phenomenal strike rate of 175.76 with three centuries.
However, Surya has failed to make a mark in the 50-over format as yet. In 23 ODIs so far, he has scored 433 runs at an average of 24.06 with two fifties. Yadav was dismissed for three successive golden ducks in the just-concluded ODI series against Australia.
After the third ODI in Chennai on Wednesday (March 22), which India lost by 21 runs to concede the series 2-1, India skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that Suryakumar is going through a bad phase but backed the under-fire batter.
"He only played three balls in three (games) this series. I don't know how much to look into it. He got three good balls, to be honest. Today, it wasn't that good ball; he should have gone forward. He knows best. He plays spin so well. We have seen that over last couple of years. That's why we held him back and give him that role for the last 15-20 overs where he can play his game, but it's really unfortunate he could only play three balls. That can happen to anyone. But the potential and ability is always there. He is just going through that phase right now," said Rohit in the post-match press conference.
While Suryakumar Yadav batted at No. 4 in the first two ODIs and was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, he was demoted to No. 7 in the series-decider at Chepauk, where left-arm spinner Ashton Agar cleaned him up with a quick delivery.
The Indian captain explained the change in the batting order after his team failed to chase the target of 270.
“KL Rahul and Virat Kohli were batting. They were operating against a leggie and a left-arm spinner. Surya was slotted to actually go at 5. But, we thought that the ball was taking some turn and we did not want the right-handers to get stuck. Which is why we wanted a left-hander and Akshar, being in the form he is, we wanted to just ask him to go in and bat the way he does and take the spinners on," Rohit stated.
“That is why we had to push him up the order and Hardik (Pandya) is our best player at number 6 and we wanted him to play there and thought about between Surya and (Ravindra) Jadeja to promote up the order," he elaborated.
