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Journalism of Courage
Even as Rohit Sharma waited for a couple of seconds in the middle, ruing the expansive drive that led to his dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav was already out of his seat in the dressing room. Even before India’s captain had crossed the circle behind the wicket, Suryakumar was already by the pitch, forcing the Australians to stop their celebrations and get Mitchell Starc back to his run-up mark.
If Suryakumar’s walk to the middle was quick, his return to dressing room was quicker. Just like in Mumbai, Starc curled one back in late and Suryakumar played all over it, as the ball hit him plumb in front. A second successive first ball nought and the walk back might have felt like an eternity. He thus spilled another opportunity to push his case in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. If he takes this streak to Chennai, the selectors could probe other options in the middle order.
Bright start
For a player who wasted no time to feel at home in T20 Internationals, the ODIs were no different for Suryakumar. In his first six ODIs, he had two scores of fifty-plus to go with a 40 and a couple of unbeaten 30s. But since then, it has gone downhill for the 32-year-old who has scores of 9, 8, 4, 34 n,o, 6, 4, 31, 14, 0 and 0 in his last 10 ODIs. When it was certain that Shreyas would be unavailable for the series, India chose not to name a replacement as they wanted to give Suryakumar an extended run in ODIs.
Unlike T20s where he is one of the first names on the team sheet, in ODIs, he has competition from Shreyas, a batter who seems a perfect fit at No 4. Between the two Mumbaikars, it is Shreyas who is ahead of Suryakumar, but there is also a reason why India are keen on persisting with the latter. He is capable of not only changing the momentum but also could take the game away from the opposition in no time. However, unlike Shreyas he is yet to show he can construct an innings – a key element that is still needed in ODIs.
Captain’s support
Suryakumar might not have scores to back his case, but within the team there are no such second thoughts. Captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have shown the tendency to hand long rope to struggling players, and in the case of Suryakumar the case is no different.
“He has obviously shown a lot of potential with white-ball. Of course, we have seen and he also knows that he has to do well in longer formats of the game as well. Like I said, guys with potential will be given enough run (of matches) where they shouldn’t feel like ‘I was not given enough chances in that particular slot.’ With Surya, he needs that consistent run of games — like seven, eight-ten matches, so that he feels more comfortable,” Rohit said.
However, the string of low scores has come at a time when Suryakumar has featured in nine of India’s last 14 matches. Since the T20 World Cup, he has missed only the three ODIs against Bangladesh and two against Sri Lanka when Shreyas was available and was preferred over him.
“Right now he has got a place (in the XI) when someone has been injured or when someone is unavailable and that doesn’t solve the purpose, where as a management we can look at (read into) performances so much. When you give a consistent run of matches then you feel that ‘ok runs are not coming and he is not comfortable and things like that’ then we will start thinking about it. But right now we haven’t gone that route,” Rohit said.
While India did have Rajat Patidar in the mix, he was not included for the Australia series. Then there is Sanju Samson, a batter in 10 ODI innings has scores of 46, 12, 54, 6 n,.o, 43 n.o, 15, 86 n.o, 30 n.o, 2 n.o, 36, besides an average of 66 in 11 matches. While a knee injury he suffered against Sri Lanka kept him out of the New Zealand series at home, if Suryakumar’s struggles continue at Chennai, India may start looking at Samson again, as he is no less destructive with the bat.
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