India head coach Rahul Dravid has insisted that he is not concerned by Suryakumar Yadav’s poor displays in One-Day Internationals. The India batsman has been garnering all the limelight from the past one week for all the wrong reasons.
While Suryakumar Yadav has been an absolute revelation in T20Is and is currently the number one batsman in the world, he has failed to replicate that performance in the 50-over format. With Shreyas Iyer currently sidelined with a back injury, the right-handed batsman had a golden opportunity to make a strong case for himself ahead of the ODI World Cup this year.
However, he has squandered the chances so far. In the ongoing series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for golden ducks in the first two ODIs and has been facing criticism from several quarters. In both the outings, Mitchell Starc pinned him in front of the wicket.
Rahul Dravid defends Suryakumar Yadav:
While Suryakumar Yadav has been under pressure, Dravid has made it clear that he has the backing of the team-management. The comments have come just few days after skipper Rohit Sharma stated that Suryakumar will be getting an extended run to settle himself in the ODI team.
“Not really concerned about Surya. He got two very good balls. One of 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,” Dravid said in Chennai.
“He (Surya) has played a lot of T20 cricket. He has played a lot of high pressure T20 games. Like IPL for T20 cricket, there is not enough high-pressure tournaments for ODIs at the domestic level, apart from the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
“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,” he added.
Meanwhile, India will be desperate to bounce back in the upcoming third and final ODI against Australia. The Men in Blue suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the second ODI after being bowled out for a paltry 117.
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