‘Suryakumar Yadav is a freak who ‘doesn’t know what to do’ in ODIs’ | Cricket

Suryakumar Yadav remains an enigma in international cricket. While his T20I numbers continue to peak, his ODI returns are plummeting. Suryakumar, who finally seemed to be decoding the 50-overs format with consecutive half-centuries against Australia prior to the World Cup, crashed and burned when it was time for the real test. His painstaking innings of 18 off 28 balls when India needed him to fire the most in the World Cup final led to a sea of criticism and by all means, has shut the doors in his ODI career for now.

However, during the T20Is against Australia right after the World Cup, Surya was back at his dazzling best, scoring 80 in Vizag and following it with a 56 and a breathtaking century against South Africa in Johannesburg. Surya, who became the No. 1 ranked T20I batter in T20Is back in October 2022 has held on to the position ever since, purely because of the red-hot form he has exuded in his comfort zone of T20 cricket.

Given how he finished the previous year, former England captain Nasser Hussain has singled out SKY as the player to watch out for at the T20 World Cup. Drawing a huge contrast between his form in the two formats, Hussain, while marveling at SKY’s T20I numbers, expressed surprise at his ODI returns.

Also Read: Decoding Suryakumar Yadav – Mystery in T20Is and ODIs but for different reasons

“The person for the world to watch out for at the moment in T20 is Suryakumar Yadav,” Hussain told ICC. “I mean, the bloke is a freak. The cliche of Mr. 360, but some of the shots he plays… and he is a bit of a freak because in fifty-overs cricket, he doesn’t quite know when to go, when not to go, what to do. But in T20 cricket, he absolutely knows what to do almost every single time, and it’s a fun game, T20 cricket and watching SKY, that is absolutely fun.”

Hussain predicts 2024 T20 World Cup finalists

The T20 World Cup is still six months away but Hussain has confidently predicted the two teams that he feels will contest for the trophy in the final. The former England captain did not pick either India or current ODI world champions Australia, but went ahead with the reigning T20 World Champions and one of the semifinalists of the recently-concluded 50-overs World Cup.

“I haven’t thought too much about this actually… but I’m going to go with South Africa. England are (reigning) champions, but not playing particularly well at the moment. It’s in the Caribbean and West Indies are going OK, then you have Pakistan, so can I choose all of these sides?” South Africa put in some record-breaking performances in the World Cup last year before they lost to eventual champions Australia in the semifinals.

“I’m going to go for South Africa versus England in the final. I’m following (fellow commentator) Simon Doull a little bit here. Before the (50-over) World Cup, he tipped them to win it and it was a little bit left field. I mean, it’s still South Africa, one of the great cricketing nations, sporting nations, but I thought that was a good shout from Doully. And they played some brilliant cricket in that World Cup.”