Rahul Dravid downplayed the concerns around India’s batting in the ongoing ODI series against Australia, throwing his weight behind Suryakumar Yadav, who is sitting on a pair of golden ducks as Shreyas Iyer’s replacement at the No.4 position. Dravid felt the need to be patient with Suryakumar, a day after Rohit Sharma reiterated his doctrine of giving players enough time to prove themselves at the big stage.
“Obviously, it’s unfortunate for Shreyas to get injured – he’s one of those guys we think will bat for us at No.4 and he has been given a lot of time in that position. Not really concerned so much about Suryakumar. You have got two first-ballers against two pretty good balls,” Dravid said, referring to the banana inswingers by Starc, bowled at 145 and 144 kmph respectively, that trapped Suryakumar plumb both in Mumbai and Vizag.
Suryakumar had found the transition from T20s to ODIs anything but smooth. In the 13 years since making his List A and T20 debuts, the Mumbai swashbuckler has played almost twice the number of games in the shortest format – 242 to 124, with 123 of them in the pressure cooker environs of the IPL – a disparity Dravid took into account.
“One of the things about Surya is he is also learning the 50-over game a little bit. The T20 game is slightly different. Even though you hadn’t played for India for a long time, in T20 cricket, he played nearly 10 years of IPL – a tournament which is like international cricket.”
“He has played a lot of high-pressure T20 games but in one-day cricket, there’s no equivalent tournament in domestic cricket, you’ll have to play Vijay Hazare and all that. Even though he has played a lot of T20 cricket, I think he has not played a lot of one-day cricket. We just need to give him some time and be patient with him. We certainly see the upside of him doing well, which is very good for the side,” Dravid highlighted.
One of things about Surya is that he is learning the 50-overs game: Rahul Dravid | #INDvAUS #Cricket https://t.co/FJuvWc5IPg
— India Today Sports (@ITGDsports) March 21, 2023
