Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has highlighted Suryakumar Yadav’s batting woes in ODIs, saying he needs clarity of mind and should find his own way of rotating the strike in the middle overs.
The BCCI selection committee showed a lot of faith in Suryakumar Yadav as he was named in the India’s 15-member World Cup 2023 squad recently, despite his poor record in the ODI format as he has just over 500 runs in 26 ODIs with only two half-centuries to show for.
Although Bangar praised his ability to churn out boundaries at any point in the innings, he asserted that the 32-year-old Mumbaikar would need a clear mind on how to keep the runs coming in the middle overs.
“He (Suryakumar Yadav) has already said that Rahul Dravid is there, and he has spoken to him. The biggest factor is that boundaries don’t come that easily in the middle part of the innings. When three or four wickets go, then how do you find the boundaries is the big problem because the ball becomes old,” Bangar said on Star Sports.
“Suryakumar Yadav is a versatile player; he definitely targets boundaries and where to hit them. He has a very good idea of where to hit them, but if there is one thing he needs to do, it is to find out how to bat between the 25th and the 40th over.
I don’t think he is clear in his head and heart about how to score runs in this period. He can play like he does in the T20 format, but if wickets fall, he needs to find out how to rotate strike between the 25th and the 40th over, and he needs to find his own method to score runs here, which he is obviously thinking about,” he added.
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The Mumbai batter is not a guaranteed starter in playing XI in ODIs, as he has not been in included in the Indian XI in Asia Cup 2023 tournament as well.
Bangar said that Suryakumar should be given chance to play when opportunity arises, but he should not be included just for the sake of giving him enough game time.
“According to me, if the team has an opening where he can play, he definitely should. But, to put him in the starting eleven only for him to get game time, I don’t think the team needs to do all of that.
And, the players which are in the starting eleven are very good players; whenever they get the chance they come and straight away have the ability to have an impact on the game. And, whatever preparation they have in the nets, there are a lot of resources which can help them.
So, with that, they can prepare and train and continue the momentum, but now is not the stage to experiment and play a player only to get game time and change the combination just for that,” Bangar concluded.
(Star Sports inputs)
