Spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned Suryakumar Yadav's batting approach following India's T20I captain's batting struggles in the recently-concluded series against England. Ashwin feels despite Suryakumar's successful captaincy, may need to reassess his batting approach. While Suryakumar led the team effectively, his personal batting performances were far from satisfactory. He managed a mere 28 runs across five matches with a lowly average of 5.60.
Adding to the concern, Suryakumar's dismissals often seemed to follow a similar pattern, much like those of Sanju Samson. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin opined that Suryakumar's primary issue lies with his batting, not his captaincy. He highlighted the recurring issue of both Suryakumar and Samson falling to the same type of delivery.
Suryakumar Yadav can allow his batting some much-needed breathing space: R Ashwin
Ashwin believes that Suryakumar needs to allow his batting some room to breathe and develop more effective strategies to counter this recurring mode of dismissal. Ashwin wants Suryakumar to change his batting approach to address this vulnerability.
“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,” Ashwin further stated.
Ashwin did acknowledge Suryakumar's experience and his role in leading a new generation of Indian cricketers, but also advised him to mend his way, as it's high time now.
“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 concluded.
As Suryakumar isn't part of India's upcoming assignment, which is ODI series against England and all-important Champions Trophy 2025, he should go back to Ranji Trophy fold to find his mojo back. Reportedly Suryakumar might consider featuring Mumbai's next match in the Ranji Trophy knockouts.