The name ‘Suryakumar Yadav’ is on every fan’s mind after the talismanic batter secured three successive first-ball ducks in the ODI series against Australia. For the first couple of games, left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc got the better of Surya, and in the last match, it was the left-arm spinner, Ashton Agar. Fans, pundits, and some former cricketers have been wondering what led to such a catastrophic performance from Surya. When Sunil Gavaskar was asked about this, his reply literally was ‘nothing’.
In a chat on Star Sports after the match, Gavaskar was asked about Yadav’s struggles in the series, and what went wrong with him. The India great said: “Nothing, nothing”.
“He has just got to understand that this can happen to the best of players and it has happened to the best of players. So I think, all he has got to do now is focus; forget these 3 matches and focus on the IPL, get runs over there. Once he gets runs in the IPL, he will come back confident for the next one-day game,” Gavaskar said.
The batting legend is hopeful of Surya turning things around in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season, and hopefully, carrying the same form forward after the tournament in India colours.
“Well, he was out first-ball 3 times. It’s very difficult to say what is going wrong. Yes, there were two good deliveries that Mitchell Starc bowled in the first 2 matches. Yes, he might have been a little too anxious,” he further said.
Even India skipper Rohit Sharma was asked about Surya’s struggles in the series during the press conference after the third ODI.
“He (Suryakumar) played only three balls in the series. I don’t know how much you can look into it. He got three good balls,” Rohit had said.
Surya is quite an important player for India, having done wonders for the team in T20Is. With Shreyas Iyer out for an extended period, getting Surya to hit peak form becomes even more important for the Indian team.
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