Ashwin has urged Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson to employ better plans after the recent rut against England. (BCCI)Former India spinner R Ashwin has minced no words in his assessment of India’s recent 4-1 victory over England as he expected captain Suryakumar Yadav and wicket-keeper Sanju Samson to come up with better plans to avoid a recurring pattern of dismissals.
While Samson gathered 51 runs in five innings and fell to the short-ball tactic employed by the England seamers on all five outings, Suryakumar’s dismal batting performance ended with 28 runs, including two ducks. As the pull troubled Samson, Suryakumar fell prey to his trademark flick shot in the series against the English quicks. Ashwin has urged that the Mumbaikar must realise the time has come to mark some changes in his batting.
“The problem though, however, is Suryakumar’s batting. Of course, his captaincy has been really good in this series. His captaincy has been on point, too. But he can allow his batting some much-needed breathing space. Sanju Samson and SKY getting out to the same ball, same field, same shot, same mistake, same dismissal,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.
“I can understand it happening in 1-2 games, but this is not uncanny anymore. Players should play with freedom, but our batters need to have better answers to the same question,” he added.
“Suryakumar Yadav is a very experienced guy. One could say he was at the forefront of a change of guard of sorts. But it is time he changed his approach to his batting,” Ashwin added.
Ashwin said India must have a better understanding of the riches in their squad while complimenting opener Abhishek Sharma for his spell-binding hundred (135) on Sunday in Mumbai, making the most of his chances in the absence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
“This is a problem of plenty, not embarrassment of many. Why are we embarrassed when we have the riches? Let’s use terms that best exemplify our bench. Of course, Jaiswal has a place in this team, but this innings by Abhishek Sharma would train all eyes on him,” said Ashwin.
“He’s such a pretty-looking batsman who makes cricket look so easy on the eye. It will be tough to take our eyes off him,” he added.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
3 min read
