Suryakumar Yadav is one of the middle-order batters upon whom the Indian cricket team management has entrusted big responsibilities for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. A master in T20I format, Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI form has not been great at all. Since 2022, Suryakumar Yadav played 23 ODIs scoring 387 runs at an average of 20.36. Though he is among the chosen 15, his ODI performance has left a lot to be desired. Speaking on Star Sports, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar spoke on what Suryakumar Yadav needs to do to improve his performances in ODI cricket.
“He 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?” Sanjay Bangar said.
“In a T20 match, the ball remains solid for the entire innings. In ODIs, in the last five overs for each team, the ball becomes soft because of which you don’t get boundaries that easily. And the second thing is, every batsman needs to find that formula on how to score runs.”
Bangar went on to say that SKY is not ‘clear in his head’ as to how to score in the middle overs. “And Suryakumar Yadav is a versatile player, that 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,” he said.
“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.”
Furthermore, he shared his perspective on Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion in the playing eleven for upcoming tournaments like the Asia Cup and the World Cup, stressing the importance of maintaining a balanced and effective lineup.
“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.
Sanjay Bangar felt that Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma will agree with him
“I feel that Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will be thinking the same thing. I think they will play only with batsmen who make the proper combinations, and who make the final starting eleven, they should get most of the playing time.
“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.”
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