In an exclusive interview with Star Sports, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar offered valuable insights into Suryakumar Yadav’s performance in ODI cricket. These insights shed light on the complexities and considerations that go into shaping India’s cricketing strategies as they prepare for these crucial contests.
Bangar emphasized the challenges of finding boundaries in the middle overs and discussed Suryakumar Yadav’s need to adapt his game during this critical phase of the innings.
Sanjay Bangar spoke on what Suryakumar Yadav needs to do to improve his performances in ODI cricket, he said “He 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? In a T20 match, the ball remains solid for the entire innings. In ODIs, in the last five overs for each team, the ball becomes soft because of which you don’t get boundaries that easily. And the second thing is, every batsman needs to find that formula on how to score runs.”
“And Suryakumar Yadav is a versatile player, and 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 as 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.
Despite his constant struggles in the ODI format, Suryakumar Yadav has been picked in India’s 15-man squad for 2023 Cricket World Cup, starting October 5 at home.
Suryakumar Yadav has played 26 matches in the 50-over format, managing to score only 511 runs. His average stands at a disappointing 24.33, a record that has raised questions about his inclusion in the 2023 Cricket World Cup team. His highest score in ODIs is 64, which further underscores his struggle to make a significant impact in this format.
Furthermore, he shared his perspective on Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion in the playing eleven for upcoming tournaments like the Asia Cup and the World Cup, stressing the importance of maintaining a balanced and effective lineup.
Sanjay Bangar also spoke on whether Suryakumar Yadav makes it into the playing eleven of the Asia Cup and World Cup squads, he said “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.”
“I feel that Rohit and Rahul (Dravid) will be thinking the same thing. I think they will play only with batsmen who make the proper combinations, and who make the final starting eleven, they should get most of the playing time. And the players who 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 that 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,” he added.
