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Suryakumar Yadav has been terrific form in the shortest format of the game. Calls for his inclusion in playing XI grew louder of late. An unfortunate back injury to Shreyas Iyer meant that he got a place in the Hyderabad ODI against the Kiwis on January 18. Ahead of the first ODI of the series, Suryakumar was asked about the loud cheers he got in the previous ODI clash against Sri Lanka when he walked out to bat in the slog overs.
“It (getting crowd ovation) is nice, the recognition but you have to remember what you did to get all this, so I try to remain the same,” the 32-year-old told the broadcasters.
Surya batted at no.7 in the previous ODI against Sri Lanka where India registered a record-breaking 317-run win. Many criticised the team management for sending KL Rahul ahead of Suryakumar. The crowd welcomed Surya with a loud cheer when Rahul departed. However, he could not do much and scored just six runs before losing his wicket in an attempt to clear the boundary.
While he is yet to prove himself in the 50-over format, he is not looking to do something different in the three-ODI series.
“I have always loved playing this format as well. I'm looking to do well. Nothing changes, intent and energy remains the same. I try and play situations, whatever situation I'm playing at. Whatever the team demands, I go through the motions,” the middle-order batter said.
Suryakumar does not have an impressive record against New Zealand. From three innings, he has scored 44 runs against New Zealand in the format. The hard-hitting batter has six single-digit scores from last 10 ODI innings.
Overall, he has scored 388 runs from 16 innings at an average of 29.84 including two half-centuries.
However, Suryakumar has scored 187 runs from just five innings in T20Is including an unbeaten 111 which he scored after India's T20 World Cup 2022 exit.
The last time he remained not out in ODIs was against New Zealand in a rain-curtailed game where he batted at no.3 and scored 34 runs off just 25 balls.
