You’ve got to feel for Suryakumar Yadav. After finally getting to make his India debut in the second T20I against England on Sunday, the batsman was left out of the Playing XI for the third match of the series. Rohit Sharma replaced Suryakumar Yadav and opened the innings with KL Rahul.
In his maiden game, SKY didn’t get a chance to showcase his abilities with the bat as India wrapped up the 165-run chase in just 17.5 overs.
India captain Virat Kohli announced that since Rohit Sharma was returning to the team, unfortunately Suryakumar had to miss out, since the management opted to give KL Rahul another chance after scores of 1 and 0.
“Unfortunately Suryakumar Yadav has to make way and Rohit is coming back in for us at the top of the order, so KL and Rohit will open for us today,” Kohli said at the toss.
Meanwhile, many cricket experts and analysts gave their opinion on the same and former India batsman Aakash Chopra and Graeme Swann were among them. Chopra feels India shouldn’t have taken decisions just on their assumption of how the red soil will behave.
“You will have to access the surface first because you can’t really go talking in town about how you’re going to play without really accessing the pitch. In this team, I’m still wondering who was the guy who delivered the message to Suryakumar Yadav that after your debut, and not getting to bat, you’re not playing the next game,” Chopra said on Star Sports.
“Ishan Kishan is batting at 3, which means that Virat Kohli is not batting at his preferred spot. So you’re still trying out a few things. There are still five bowling options so you also know that now since you have to bowl second, you need to score whatever the pitch is that you access, 10-15 more than that.”
Swann, on the other hand feels dropping Suryakumar, through no fault of his own, was one of the harshest calls he has ever seen in his life, while explaining the logic behind it. Swann further said that India are ‘desperate’ to have their opening combination of Rohit and Rahul before T20 World Cup.
“I want to give a big shout out to Yadav. Making his debut, not getting a chance to bat and then getting dropped. That’s one of the harshest things I have ever seen. But you’ve got to understand why they are doing it, because they are desperate for Sharma and Rahul to get some form and games under their belts,” said Swann.
“They are desperate for Rahul and Sharma to be there for the opening partnership when it comes to that World Cup. You can see that coming up. Personally, I think Ishan Kishan did so well, opened it up the other night with the right-hand left-hand combination. That’s the way I would move forward if I was the Indian selector or captain or coach. But India seem set in their ways, they want KL Rahul to come back to form and they want Sharma.”
Renowned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle also expressed disappointment over Suryakumar’s omission and opined that the Mumbai Indian player be considered for the remaining two T20Is.
Here is the playing XI of team India in 3rd T20I against England:
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal