Mark Waugh Answers Whether Suryakumar Yadav Is Good Enough For ODIs

Former Australia National Cricket Team player Mark Waugh has answered whether the star India National Cricket Team middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav is good enough to be an ODI player.

Suryakumar Yadav has been at the top of his game in T20 cricket for a long period of time now. He has emerged as one of the most dangerous batters in T20I cricket and he quickly climbed to the top spot in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.

Still, somehow the 360-degree batter has not been able to crack the 50-over format. Despite receiving good backing from the team management, the batter averages 25.52 after 28 ODIs.

In the recent first ODI of the three-match series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav played a terrific innings as he scored 50 runs off 49 balls, with 5 fours and 1 six, and he tried to play down the ground instead of going for his unorthodox shots.

Speaking on Jio Cinema, Mark Waugh said that Suryakumar Yadav is definitely good enough to be a 50-over cricket player.

“It’s not about those ducks. All those things that people have been talking about, stuff like ‘is he just a T20 player? Is he good enough to be a 50-overs player?’. He sure is, you don’t lose your talent overnight. There are similar basics in T20 cricket and 50-over cricket. Hit the ball, run hard, put the bad ball away, he can do all those things really well,” Mark Waugh told JioCinema.

“It’s just a matter of him breaking free and not worrying about getting out. That’s the one thing that always holds batters back — thinking about getting out. If you can not think about that, then your natural instincts will take over and he will be fine,” he added.

Suryakumar Yadav having that backing gives him the confidence to play his natural game – Abhishek Nayar

Former India cricketer Abhishek Nayar also spoke about Suryakumar Yadav and said that the India head coach Rahul Dravid has a lot of confidence in Suryakumar and the backing from the team management will help the batter to play his natural game in ODIs.

“That also tells you the environment in the team. A lot of times, when you go back to the dugout, the coach and the captain, when they put that sort of trust in you. We saw Rahul Dravid speak in the press conference of how much confidence they had in Suryakumar, that they are going to back him just feel that Suryakumar having that (backing) gives him the confidence to play his natural game,” Nayar said.

The 33-year-old will be next seen in action when India will take on Australia in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on September 24.