India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav has impressed one and all with his dazzling exploits in the shortest format of the game.
Ever since his debut in 2021, the dashing right-hander has played 93 T20Is so far, amassing 2734 runs at an average of 36.94 and a remarkable strike rate of 164.20, including four hundreds and 21 fifties. He also won the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award in 2022 and 2023.
However, Suryakumar failed to leave a mark in the 50-over format despite getting opportunities. In 37 ODIs, he managed to score only 773 runs at an average of 25.76 with four half-centuries to his name.
After India’s defeat in the 2023 World Cup against Australia, Surya was sidelined from the ODI setup. Even though he was handed T20I captaincy last year, the 35-year-old hasn't received an ODI recall to the national squad.
Recently, Suryakumar Yadav expressed his keenness to play the ODI format and even made a public plea to former South African captain AB de Villiers for advice on how to balance his game across formats.
Suryakumar, who has come closest to matching de Villiers’ 360-degree batting in white-ball cricket, said that if he ever got the chance to meet the Proteas legend in person, he would want to know how he had balanced his T20I and ODI careers together.
"If I meet him soon, then I would like to ask him how he managed to balance his T20I and ODI games. I haven't been able to do so. I thought ODIs should be played like T20Is. I want to ask him what he did to be successful in both formats," Surya said while speaking to journalist Vimal Kumar on his YouTube channel.
"AB, if you are listening to this, please get in touch with me quickly because there are important three-four years lying ahead for me. I’m very keen on playing ODI cricket also. Please help me! I couldn’t balance T20Is and ODIs," he added.
Suryakumar Yadav is presently leading India in the five-match T20I series against Australia. The series currently stands level at 1-1 after three games. The penultimate T20I will be held in Queensland on Thursday (November 6).
