The backlash over playing Suri Kumar Yadav continues with World Cup winner Chris Srikanth calling out the Indian team management on his recent experiences with the batting line-up. India have tried a number of opening combinations in T20Is over the past few months, including Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda and now Surya Kumar.
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Suriya, who recently scored a century batting at No. 4, has played as an opener in the first two matches of the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies. However, Srikanth feels that if Surya has excelled in the middle order and India have other options to try at the top.
Suryakumar Yadav is a brilliant player at number 4. He should bat at No. 4 in the T20 World Cup,” said the former India cricketer on FanCode.
Srikanth claimed that India is ruining Suriya’s career by changing his batting position. “So why do you want to open him? If you want someone to open, drop Shreyas Iyer and pick Ishan Kishan instead. What I am trying to say is simple… screw a cricketer like Surya Kumar Yadav. Don’t. Please don’t. I will tell you that after a couple of failures, he will lose his confidence. Cricket is a game of confidence,” he said.
Last week, former India batsman Mohammad Kaif also expressed his confusion over playing Suriya as an opener.
“Surya Kumar’s role is to control the innings in the middle and finish it off. In fact, his role will remain as the No. 4 batsman when Kohli and Rahul return. But Pant should have been tried. Frankly, I don’t understand what happened. Ishaan Kishan is also waiting,” Kaif said on Fancode.
“Whatever it was, I completely failed to understand it. You should have used Rishabh Pant today if you were thinking of using him as an opener for some matches. He got at least five chances. Also, Rohit Sharma, the captain, and Rahul Dravid, the coach, support the players for at least 5-6 games.”
Under ideal circumstances, KL Rahul would have opened the innings with Rohit Sharma. However, his prolonged absence seems to have pushed India into an experimental mode.
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