CRICKET
’32 saal ki umar me bhi learning?’ – Fans react as Rahul Dravid backs Suryakumar Yadav after he continues to struggle in ODI format
Indian cricketer Suryakumar Yadav is currently the no. 1 ranked T20I batter in the world. His variety of shots has made him one of the most stylish batters when it comes to the shortest format. But his performance in the ODI format has been nothing but very poor. Suryakumar registered 3 successive golden ducks in the ODI series against Australia earlier this year.
The 32-year-old batter has once again failed to produce anything special in the 50-over format as in the first 2 matches of the ongoing 3-match ODI series between India and West Indies as he has scored only 19 and 24 runs in the 1st and 2nd ODI respectively. However, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid has backed the batter and said that he is learning and adapting the gameplay in the ODI format.
“Surya is a really good player, there is no doubt about that. He has shown that. Especially in T20 cricket, in domestic cricket, in white-ball cricket. He has some very good performances. He would be the first one to admit that his ODI numbers haven’t been up to the standards or the standards that he has set in T20.
He’s also probably learning ODIs. He played a lot of competitive T20 cricket through the IPL before he made his debut for India. In One-dayers, he hasn’t played as much competitive cricket, because there is no IPL for one-dayers,” Dravid was quoted as saying by Cricket Addictor.
Will Suryakumar be able to cement his place in the ODI squad?
Suryakumar’s bad performance in the ODI format is a threat to himself as 2 major events, Asia Cup and ODI World Cup are set to be played this year and the right-hander is hoping to cement his place in the squad but he hasn’t impressed enough the fans and the experts as of now.
Suryakumar is one of the contenders to play at the no. 4 position for India in the upcoming major events. However, Shreyas Iyer who has been performing brilliantly in the ODI format is undoubtedly the most deserving player to play at that position. But his injury has kept him away from the game for a while.
Here’s how fans reacted:
https://twitter.com/maybeoffline/status/1685481502984081408?s=20
This time it’s looks like same will repeat under your captaincy. Please step down as a coach🙏
— Karthik (@Karthik1357901) July 30, 2023
Rahul Dravid was captain when India didn’t qualify for the second round of the tournament. Hope same thing doesn’t repeat when he’s the coach.
— LAKSHMI NARAYANAN (@sln10000) July 30, 2023
But SKY is the best white ball player at the moment skill wise. Only thing missing is his mindset. Once he starts playing ODIs continuously he'll start getting runs. Management should guarantee him his place in WC and not for next 10 games.
— thatStrangeDr (@Coolnam77712886) July 30, 2023
What the hell if he can't adopt to the format then what's the point in giving him n number of chances clearly it's showing politics are going in bcci & ICT
— Yogendar Reddy (@YogendarReddy7) July 30, 2023
But he will not give enough chance to Ruturaj who already had proved him in Domestic
— Yash MSdian ™️ 🦁 (@itzyash07) July 30, 2023
This time we may not reach semifinals if we do experiment just 3 months ahead of world cup 🫣
— Satgish (@ursprince1234) July 30, 2023
Dravid and Rohit destroyed Indian team but @BCCI also a self destroyer
— Pandit Sandeep Sharma 🇮🇳 (@Panditsandeep23) July 30, 2023
https://twitter.com/Dusseldorfian/status/1685507562509393920?s=20