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Suryakumar Yadav should be in India’s playing XI at any cost, feels former India off spinner Harbhajan Singh. Despite having an abysmal ODI record, the dynamic batter was named in India’s 15-member squad for the 2023 World Cup.
Fingers were always being pointed at Surya’s failure to find his feet in one-day cricket. The din picked up intensity on Tuesday when the 32-year-old got the nod over a backup wicketkeeper-batter in Sanju Samson.
“I feel Suryakumar Yadav is a complete player. I don’t think selectors have been harsh on Sanju Samson. Yes I do feel Sanju is a quality player, but you can only select 15. And I feel picking Suryakumar Yadav over Sanju is the right move. Because the game Suryakumar Yadav has for the middle overs, Sanju probably doesn’t possess that yet. Suryakumar Yadav gives you the reliability and he can make big scores, while Sanju plays high-risk cricket.
“Some people will throw Surya’s one-day numbers at me. But what he has done in T20s, and if he comes into bat with those many deliveries left, then I don’t think there’s a better player than him in the whole country. What he can do in that position, even Rohit and Virat cannot,” Harbhajan Singh told a select group of journalists in a press conference organised by Star Sports.
Harbhajan stuck his neck out to even claim that the Surya versus Sanju debate doesn’t hold water. Giving the example of legends like MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh, the 43-year-old stated that Suryakumar Yadav isn’t competing with Sanju Samson for a berth in India's squad, but is instead in a race against the established middle-order options for a place in the playing sheet.
“It’s the most difficult job to bat at Nos. 5 and 6 – where Dhoni and Yuvi excelled in. If you’re going in after 30-35 overs, you need a game to pick gaps and hit boundaries. And nobody can do it better than Suryakumar Yadav. And if it were in my hands, I’d play him every single time. Because regardless of whether he clicks or no, his presence will put some sort of pressure on the opposition. Till the time he’s at the crease, he can play a match-winning knock any day. And players like him shouldn’t be wasted be keeping on the sidelines. So about the Surya versus Sanju debate, regardless of whether Sanju is in the squad, Suryakumar Yadav should be in the playing 11,” he explained.
India have tried out Surya at all positions from No. 3 right down to No. 7. And his average of 24.33 from 26 ODIs is a pale shadow of his exploits in T20 cricket. Sanju Samson, on the other hand, despite playing just 13 matches, boasts an average of 55.71 at a strike rate of 104.
Ravaged by injuries and breaks in the name of workload management, India’s middle order bares an undercooked look. While Shreyas Iyer has batted just once after returning from a long injury layoff, keeper-bat KL Rahul hasn’t played professional cricket since May.
Underlining the importance of a well-knit unit, Harbhajan Singh opined that it is the small things which go on to make a difference in a big tournament.
“If your team plays together for the one year before going to play a big tournament, it makes a huge difference. Players get to understand their role and the expectations of them. Not just from a team’s point of view, but even while in a partnership with someone. If suppose you are batting with Virat Kohli, you need to know how he bats and the tempo you need to maintain. These small things matter a lot. Someone like a Hardik Pandya can hit a first-ball six. But there will be times he will have to keep his ego aside and play the situation,” he said in response to a Sportskeeda query.
He recalled the final of the 2011 World Cup, saying that the same group of players needs to repeatedly play together to instill confidence and belief in one another.
“If I talk about 2011, even when Sachin and Viru got out early, we were very confident sitting in the dressing room. We knew that somebody will raise their hand and get the job done. Be it Dhoni or Yuvi or Gautam or Cheeku – even though Virat was very young at that time – but we had that confidence because we had played together for two-three years. Even three years back, we would give India 80 percent votes to win against Pakistan. But now, we put them as equals because Pakistan have played together as a unit for the past two years. They played the final last year and lost in the semi-final the year before, that too because of a miracle of an innings played by Wade. So teams are made only when you play together and India will have a slight disadvantage on that front,” Harbhajan, who took 9 wickets in the tournament, reiterated.
Also read: “Why should your best player move down?” – Decoding India’s Asia Cup 2023 squad if KL Rahul or Shreyas Iyer is unfit
"If Chahal were playing for some other country, he'd be in the playing XI every time" - Harbhajan Singh
While everyone expected India's squad for the ongoing Asia Cup to be retained for the global event, Harbhajan Singh took to social media to express surprise over Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion.
Both captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have time and again harped on the importance of having batting depth. That line of thinking worked in the favour of all-rounders like Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel.
Along with the leg spinner, Harbhajan nominated left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh as the two players India would miss in the 50-over showpiece.
“There are two people missing in this team. One is Yuzvendra Chahal and the other is Arshdeep Singh. Because, if a left-arm seamer brings the ball into the batters at the start, it makes a huge difference in the game. It’s not like right-handers can’t do it, but it is a natural angle for left-armers. When Australia won the World Cup in 2015, Mitchell Starc played a huge role in castling Brendon McCullum in the very first over. So an incoming ball at that speed, coming into a right-hander is always a challenge.
Against teams stacked with southpaws, India might feel shortchanged over the lack of bowlers who can take the ball away from the left-hander. While India can avail the services of left-arm leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav, Bhajji feels that Chahal could've added variety instead of having two similar tweakers.
“And about Yuzvendra Chahal, he’s a proven match-winner. Someone who has taken more wickets than any other spinner. If he were playing for some other country, I feel he would’ve been in the playing XI every single time. After proving so much, I feel he should’ve been in the team. If I were in the management, I’d definitely have him in the team. We have chosen two left-arm spinners. But the two can never play together in the same match. The day Ravindra Jadeja plays, Axar Patel won’t – this is a given. And it can even happen that, the day there are many left-handers in the opposition, Ravindra Jadeja may not even bowl his 10 overs. And for that, you needed a bowler who could take the ball away from the left-hander,” he elaborated.
India's squad for 2023 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav
