Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener turned commentator said Mumbai Indians right-hander Suryakumar Yadav should have been named in the Indian limited-overs sides for the Australian tour.
Suryakumar Yadav has scored two fifties in his last four matches in IPL 2020. He has so far slammed four fifty-plus scores in IPL 2020, playing a pivotal role in MI reaching their sixth final of the tournament. However, Suryakumar Yadav was not selected in India’s ODI or T20I squads that will travel to Australia after IPL ends.
Aakash Chopra: Suryakumar Yadav Should Have Been Named For Tour Of Australia
Suryakumar Yadav has been one of the most consistent performers for the Mumbai Indians in the last few seasons of IPL, scoring 512 and 424 runs respectively in 2018 and 2019.
“The voice comes repeatedly from the heart that Suryakumar Yadav should have been on the Australia tour,” said Aakash Chopra in a YouTube video.
In this season, he has already scored 461 runs at an average of 41.90 in 15 matches sat a strike rate of 148.23. The MI No.3 batsman scored an impressive 51 in MI’s 57-run victory over Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 1 of IPL 2020.
Suryakumar Yadav was omitted as the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey were preferred over him despite his consistent performances in IPL and domestic circuit.
He has an average of 44 in first class and 35 in List A and 30 in IPL having played exactly 100 matches in IPL. After inconsistent and below-par performances from 2012 to 2017 in IPL, the last three years saw him delivering with a bat.
Aakash Chopra: Left-Handed Ishan Kishan Could Also Have Been Named
Aakash Chopra also added that the left-hander Ishan Kishan too should be considered for India selection as he is 4th leading run-scorer in IPL 2020 with 483 runs in 13 matches averaging 53.66 with 4 fifties.
“Ishan Kishan’s name should also be there along with Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant in the list of prospective wicketkeeper-batsmen for the Indian team,” Chopra said.
Aakash Chopra also praised Hardik Pandya who is concentrating only on batting to not aggravate his injury for his blazing innings of 37 off 14 balls with 5 sixes towards the end that pushed MI to 200 batting first against Delhi.
“Ashwin was trying to get the Delhi Capitals back in the game but they were not able to take advantage of that. First Suryakumar Yadav, then Ishan Kishan and finally Hardik Pandya blasted them,” he said.
“The Delhi Capitals won the toss and after that they did not win anything. That’s the only thing they won on the night. They have played the Mumbai Indians thrice and have lost by 9 wickets, 5 wickets and then 50-60 runs. What are they doing?” Aakash Chopra said.
Batting first after Delhi Capitals opted to bowl in Qualifier 1, Mumbai Indians scored 200/5 after Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan scored the fifties. Delhi Capitals could manage only 143/8 and eventually lost by 57 runs as Jasprit Bumrah returned with career-best figures of 4/14. Delhi Capitals were down and out losing wickets regularly and were reeling at 0/3, 20/4 and 41/5 before Marcus Stoinis’ 65 and Axar Patel’s 42 gave them a respectable total.