Suryakumar Yadav averages 24.33 after 24 innings in ODIs. (AFP Photo)
Sanjay Bangar said Suryakumar Yadav should be given a chance whenever there is an appropriate opportunity in the team.
Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has given his take on Suryakumar Yadav’s batting struggle in the ODI format despite tasting humongous success in the T20Is. Suryakumar has not been able to make a mark yet in the one-dayers for India having scored 511 runs in 26 matches at an underwhelming average of 24.33.
However, he managed to retain his place in the team’s 15-member squad for the ODI World Cup, set to be held in India starting next month.
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Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has highlighted Suryakumar’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.
Bangar suggested that the biggest concern for him is to score boundaries in the middle overs when the ball gets old.
“He (SKY) 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 told Star Sports.
The former India batting coach feels that Suryakumar doesn’t have clarity in his mind about how to approach the period between the 25th and 40th over.
“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.”
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With the return of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar has become a bench warmer in India’s ODI set-up in the ongoing Asia Cup, where he hasn’t featured in the two matches that the Men in Blue have played so far.
While Bangar said SKY should be given a chance whenever there is an appropriate opportunity, he warned that 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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
