Suryakumar Yadav was recently stunned with yet another T20I century, his third for India and all in the space of six months, as he hit a magnificent 112 not out in the third T20I match against Sri Lanka in Rajkot. Suryakumar’s performance wasn’t unexpected, but what followed in the following game was. When India decided not to play Suryakumar in the first ODI against the same opponents, the following game, fans, and previous cricket players were shocked.
People did not take SKY’s exclusion well and instead gave Shreyas Iyer a game. As viewers struggled to process what they had just seen, Kris Srikkanth, a former BCCI head of selection, even apologized to Surya on live television.
After India won the series and the third ODI, Surya made a comeback. He was dismissed cheaply for four runs. Despite being a complete beast in T20Is, Suryakumar hasn’t exactly duplicated his success in ODIs. India has played fewer ODIs recently, but with the 50-over format taking center stage, that should change, making Suryakumar’s performance in these matches all the more important. This contentious Suryakumar treatment has some roots in the fact that there is currently an excessive amount of competition, with many players vying for the same position. This is known as the “problem of plenty.”
But, according to Indian sports icon Kapil Dev, one solution is to have distinct teams for each event. In the wake of the BCCI’s selection of a group of 15 players for the World Cup, First-ever World Cup champion Kapil feels that the Indian cricket team would eventually have three different sets of players for each format.
Kapil said during an interview with Gulf news, “I think we should leave it to the cricket board what they (selectors) plan. There are so many cricketers coming so everyone should get a chance to play. From what I can see from the outside is that they will have three teams – one each for T20Is, ODIs, and Tests. That way, you can have a bigger pool.”
The decision to part ways with Suryakumar is something the former India all-rounder couldn’t comprehend. Kapil recently reserved high praise for him, saying that batsmen like him only appear once every century. Since earning his first Test call-up, Suryakumar has recently stated that he wants to improve in ODIs. This determination should only grow stronger. Kapil was baffled by Suryakumar’s exclusion from the game even though he hasn’t scored a half-century in any of his last 10 ODI innings and his highest score was 34 not out in November.
He added, “Having said that, they should have one set of teams for a period of time. You can change an odd person I can understand that. But if your Man of the Match (Suryakumar Yadav) is getting dropped the next day and somebody else comes in, we as cricketers don’t understand that.”
