Suryakumar Yadav made his T20I and ODI debuts within a span of four months in 2021. Having proven his credentials by consistent performances in domestic cricket and in IPL, Suryakumar finally realised his international dream when he played his first match as an India player in March 2021, a T20I against England.
Fast forward to 2023, Suryakumar has maintained his grip over the top spot in world’s best T20I batters. With 1780 runs from 49 innings at a stunning strike-rate of 174.33, he has been head and shoulders ahead of the competition.
In a stark contrast, his ODI numbers are quite ordinary and it’s a mystery why he has dazzled in one white-ball format but has failed to reproduce the extraordinary show in 50-over cricket.
So far, from 24 innings in ODI cricket, Suryakumar has mustered 511 runs at 24.33.
The 32-year-old has no ‘shame’ in admitting how his numbers in one-day cricket for India are ‘very bad’ but says he’s focused on improvement.
“Agar mai honest hoon toh, mujhe pata hai mere one-day ke numbers bilkul kharab hain aur isme koi sharam nahi hai bolne mai, subko pata he hai (To be honest, my one-day numbers are absolutely bad and there’s no shame in admitting that, everybody is aware” Suryakumar said after his match-winning 83 in the third T20I against West Indies on Tuesday.
Suryakumar said while he has played a lot of T20 cricket, same cannot be said of one-day format and the team management has told him to find out how he can contribute towards the team cause.
“We all talk about honesty and you have to be, but how you can improve is more important. Rohit (Sharma) and Rahul (Dravid) sir have told me that this is the format that I don’t play much so you have to play it more and think about it. If you are batting in the last 10-15 overs, think what you can do for the team. All we want you from his play 45-50 ball if you are getting to bat in the 15-18 overs, play your own game. It’s in my hand now how to change the responsibility into an opportunity,” Suryakumar said.
Earlier this year, Dravid had said how playing IPL has helped Suryakumar but unfortunately, there’s no IPL for one-day cricket.
The middle-order batter admits that he finds one-day cricket a challenging format but he’s trying to apply what the team management has been telling him.
“We have been playing T20 format so much that I have gotten used to it,” he said. “One-day is a format that I don’t play much and I find it as the most challenging format. You have to bat differently – if a wicket falls early, you have to bat a little like in Test cricket, then in between you try to accelerate ball by ball and towards the end, you have to bring in the T20 approach. So I have been trying to apply what the team management has told me so far about the format. I try to take some time in ODI as per the time and then play my game towards the end. I will try to repay the faith.”
With less than two months remaining for the 2023 ODI World Cup, Suryakumar says not playing enough matches isn’t a concern for the team.
“We have 7-8 games before ODI World Cup. It’s enough for a team to prepare. We also have a camp before that where all the players will gather. It’s important to spend time together, understand strengths and weaknesses. We will try to win hopefully,” he said.
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