Recently, the squads from India’s Tour of Australia were announced and unfortunately, Suryakumar Yadav failed to make it any format’s squad. It is not the first time that the Indian Selection Committee have made some controversial calls.
The last time a situation like this happened was when Ambati Rayudu was left out of the ICC World Cup 2019 squad despite numerous promising performances with the bat. He was also the most probable option for the vacant number 4 spot in the team but he was still not called.
After Shikhar Dhawan’s injury ruled him out for the rest of the tournament, people expected that the CSK superstar will finally get the platform to flourish but instead Rishabh Pant was called. Rayudu felt intimidated by this and did not shy away from articulating his displeasure against the decision made.
It can be said that the same scenario has reoccurred but this time the victim is Yadav. Just a couple of days after being ignored by the board Suryakumar once again proved why he at least deserved a consideration if not a concrete spot in the squad. Bangalore played Mumbai in a crunch IPL game and the four-time champions were given a target of 165. Mumbai stumbled very early in the innings but Suryakumar was as free-flowing as someone could be.
He finished the innings with a staggering 79* off 43 balls with a striker rate of 183.72. he was also involved in a serious stare game with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, a clip that went viral soon after the game. It was then Pollard’s turn to comment on his performance as he is currently leading his side in the absence of the ‘hitman’ Rohit Sharma.
Pollard said, “Imagine someone batting at the striker rate after two early wickets. Deep down inside he must be very very disappointed to bot ave donned the blue for India. He just keeps getting better. Again as an individual if you keep staying consistent, you will be rewarded. Nothing happens before it’s time.”
With 362 runs in 12 IPL 2020 games, the Mumbai number 3 is currently 11th on the list of highest run-scorers this season. His contribution has been vital in helping Mumbai retaining the top spot but it just feels incorrect for him on a personal level.
His story began with being offered an IPL contract by his current team in the year 2012. However, he did not feature in a single game because of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard etc in the squad. He was then bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 auctions, a team where he earned a reputation of a match-winner after his blistering performance, scoring a match-winning 20 ball 46 that included five sixes against the Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens.
His pivotal cameos and his ability to rise to the occasion and perform helped him become the vice-captain of the team. He then became the most expensive uncapped player in the 2018 auction when Mumbai bought him again for a whopping price of 3.2 crores INR.
Yadav has played 97 IPL games scoring 1910 runs with a striker rate of 135.84. After what happened to him recently, his fans would be hoping that he does not take any step like Ambati Rayudu who retired from all forms of cricket after he was let down by the board.
featured image credits- Cricketlounge
