590 days! Suryakumar Yadav maybe the World No 1 T20 batter at the moment without a doubt. But it has taken him 590 days to end half-century drought in the 50-over format. But it should come as a relief for India Cricket Team as well as Rohit Sharma & Rahul Dravid who have bet heavily on the dasher. SKY ended his poor ODI run with a 49-ball 50-run knock in the IND vs AUS 1st ODI in Mohali on Friday.
His last half-century in ODIs was back in 2022 against West Indies in Ahmedabad. While during that time, he has scored three centuries in T20Is and one ton in IPL, ODIs continued to be his difficult terrain. Australia was particularly a difficult opponent considering he was dismissed for ducks in all three innings against the five-time world champions.
Despite an ODI average of 16.41 in the last 12 months, he managed to pip Sanju Samson from World Cup squad. The reason? Captain Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid have immense trust in the Mumbaikar.
While he is likely to play a squad role in the World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav has just begun to repay the faith and justify his selection. It was a different SKY in the IND vs AUS 1st ODI.
There was no hurry on Friday. And what exactly he lacked, he ensured it wasn’t the case. He paced his innings beautifully, playing five boundaries and a six. His efforts apart from fifties from Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad and KL Rahul besides a fifer by Mohammad Shami helped India beat Australia by 5 wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
“That was what I was dreaming of when I started playing this format. Try and bat till the end as much as possible and finish the game for the team. I couldn’t do that today but definitely loving my new role. I have been wondering what has been happening. The colour of the ball is the same. The teams are the same. The bowlers are the same. I think I was hurrying a bit. I thought, let’s take a little bit more time. Calm myself, take it slowly and try and bat deep,” Suryakumar Yadav said after the match.
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