Suryakumar Yadav has been going through a rough patch in ODI cricket with three consecutive golden ducks in three-ODI series against Australia. Following Suryakumar's horrendous run in the ODI series, he has faced heavy criticism along with captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid who backed him in absence of Shreyas Iyer. Few current and former cricketers have come in support of Suryakumar. Ravichandran Ashwin has also joined the bandwagon and also defended team’s decision to promote Axar Patel up the order in third ODI.
"Shreyas Iyer's injury meant we did not have a stable No.4 in the Australia series. His injury opened up opportunities for Suryakumar Yadav. He had an interesting series, he played three balls and got three ducks. Immediately there are so many questions on whether he should play ODI cricket, blah blah blah. Since India lost, these questions multiplied. There is not too much to read into it.
"There is almost a compulsion that India should always win. There is an opinion that India is the strongest team. We are a strong team, no doubt about that but somewhere down the line, we assume ourselves to be invincible. So the feedback coming from the public sometimes can be harsh. Even experts are very harsh with their criticisms these days.
"It will not give any balance to the cricketer or the management. When we won the 2011 World Cup, the stability we had in the team was the main reason. I feel we ourselves are bringing the stability down. Experts should know what is a valid time. They have played the game so they would know," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin explained that Patel was promoted up the order to take on Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar. He gave David Warner's example. Warner batted at no.4 for the first time in his ODI career and it led to Marnus Labuschagne getting pushed to no.5.
"Surya came down the order, Axar was promoted and KL Rahul batted at No.4, that was the talking point of the game. Please look at Australia's batting order consistently. When Maxwell returns that's how they will use them as well. Because they are players who can create impact. Suryakumar Yadav is also one such player. He plays spin really well. Australia won that's why it didn't become a talking point but Marnus Labuschagne who bats at No.4 had to bat at No.5 because of David Warner. If they had lost the game, these questions would have been asked. It's decided based on the situation of the game, it's a hunch call.
"Why did they promote Axar? If they promoted Axar and he negated Zampa and Agar by taking them for 35 or 50 runs in 10 overs then the game was in India's bag. So the intent was right but the run-out happened. The outcome wasn't right," Ashwin added.
Earlier, Ashwin had also lauded Steve Smith for his captaincy to stop India’s bilateral dominance at home.
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