Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has openly criticized the Indian team management for omitting Suryakumar Yadav from their Playing XI for the third T20I against England, which they lost by eight wickets.
Suryakumar made his international debut for India in the second T20I of the series but he didn’t get a chance to bat as half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Ishan Kishan powered the hosts to a seven-wicket victory. He was expected to retain his place for the third T20I but he was the one who was dropped to make room for Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.
Gambhir is of the opinion that Suryakumar’s omission was completely illogical considering the fact that India need to find out more about the new players with the T20 World Cup just seven months away.
“It amazes me, seven months before the World Cup he starts preparing for World Cup, and probably after the World Cup he will start preparing for the next World Cup. It really doesn’t matter, the kind of form you are in matters,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Gambhir as saying.
“Imagine if there is an injury issue, what have you seen of Suryakumar Yadav, what have you seen of Suryakumar Yadav in international cricket. I hope nobody gets injured but if there is an injury case and somebody needs to bat at number 4 and number 5,” he said.
“For example, there has to be a replacement for Shreyas Iyer, who are you gonna go for. So at least look at someone whom you have got into the setup. Probably give him that opportunity in three or four games and see where he stands,” Gambhir added further.
Gambhir also said that India should have tried Suryakumar at No.4 instead of dropping him and if he would have done well, they could have even considered him as a backup option for the middle-order. He further went on to say that the rest and rotation policy is creating unwanted problems for India and they should rather try to field the same XI, just like England have done in the series.
“We create a problem for our own self because we juggle a lot. In every game, there is some change or the other. Look at what England have done in this third T20I, they have not changed their batting order. So if you create problems for yourself, you would keep talking about problems of plenty,” Gambhir said.
