'He has played 10 years of IPL but in ODIs...': Dravid settles debate on Suryakumar's place in India XI
Is SKY's ODI form a real worry for India now? Head coach Rahul Dravid, however, doesn't feel the same. The head coach rued the absence of an injured Shreyas Iyer, who had been earmarked to bat at No. 4 in the World Cup. The coach at the same time was sympathetic towards Suryakumar Yadav.
Suryakumar Yadav is a curious case in more ways than one. On one hand, he has revolutionised T20 batting so much that he is regarded as the current best T20 batter by some distance. To many, he is India's first exclusive T20I batter. But there is a flip side to it. Even those agreeing that T20 cricket is Suryakumar's strongest suit, would not have imagined that he would struggle so much in ODIs. It is still early days but SKY is probably the start of the generation that can't be bracketed as 'limited-overs cricketers' or 'white-ball specialists'. T20 has increasingly started to distance itself from the 50-over format.
SKY is the perfect case study. He has 1675 runs in T20I runs at a strike rate of 175. He has scored three centuries, has battled pace, bounce, spin and aced against all attacks of the world. Come to ODIs, he has only two half-centuries, an average of 25 and has managed to cross the double figures only thrice in his last 10 innings. Against Australia, he has been found wanting against Michell Starc's big in-swingers.
Is his ODI form a real worry for India now? Head coach Rahul Dravid, however, doesn't feel the same. The head coach rued the absence of an injured Shreyas Iyer, who had been earmarked to bat at No. 4 in the World Cup. The coach at the same time was sympathetic towards Suryakumar Yadav.
"Obviously. it is unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured. He is probably one of those guys who would bat at No.4 and be given a lot of time at that position. If you notice we have stuck to the people in positions. For two years leading into this run, there is a lot of T20 cricket played and we did not have a lot of one-day cricket and if there are injuries and all that, we do have options," Dravid said on Tuesday.
Dravid said one of the major reasons behind SKY's T20I success is his exposure to IPL, which is no lesser than international cricket in quality and intensity.
"Not really concerned about Surya. He got two very good balls (in the first two ODIs). One of the things about Surya is that he is learning the 50-overs game. The T20 is slightly different. In T20, he has played 10 years of IPL. He (Surya) has played a lot of T20 cricket. He has played a lot of high-pressure T20 games. Even though he has played a lot of t20 cricket I think he has not played a lot of one-day cricket. We need to give him some time and be patient with it. We certainly see the upside of him doing well."
When asked about the composition of India's XI for the series decider in Chennai on Wednesday, Dravid said the bilaterals are a lot about trying out different combinations keeping the ODI World Cup in mind.
"We have to a large extent. We have got a lot more clarity at the end of these nine games irrespective of what happens tomorrow. We need to keep building on that clarity. For us it is now the different playing XI combinations and just ensuring that we play different combinations at times just to ensure that we are able to do that in the World Cup and we are not surprised by anything in the World Cup," Dravid said.
