Ashwin minces no words in scathing assessment of Suryakumar Yadav's form: 'Need to have better answers to same question'

Suryakumar Yadav might have led India to a 4-1 series victory against England in the five-match T20I series, but his form left much to be desired. The right-hander managed just 28 runs in five T20Is, registering scores of 0,12,14,0 and 2. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reckons that the time has come for Suryakumar Yadav to change his approach to batting. Suryakumar Yadav managed just 28 runs in the five T20Is against England (PTI)

In the entire series, the Indian T20I captain kept getting out in the same manner. He was often dismissed in an attempt to play the flick shot.

Like Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav had no answers to the pace of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse. Ashwin reckons Suryakumar Yadav needs to return to the drawing board despite his top-notch captaincy.

“The problem though, however, is Suryakumar's batting. Of course, his captaincy has been really good in this series. His captaincy has been on point, too. But he can allow his batting some much-needed breathing space. Sanju Samson and SKY getting out to the same ball, same field, same shot, same mistake, same dismissal,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.

“I can understand it happening in 1-2 games, but this is not uncanny anymore. Players should play with freedom, but our batters need to have better answers to the same question,” he added.

Needs to change his approach

Suryakumar Yadav has four T20I centuries to his name. However, runs have been hard to come by for the Mumbai batter since the four-match T20I series against South Africa last year.

Ashwin reckons Suryakumar is a very experienced guy but needs to introspect and come up with better answers.

“Suryakumar Yadav is a very experienced guy. One could say he was at the forefront of a change of guard of sorts. But it is time he changed his approach to his batting,” said Ashwin.

In the fifth and final T20I at the Wankhede Stadium, Abhishek Sharma smashed 135 runs off 54 balls, setting up India's massive 150-run win. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are currently not a part of the T20I setup, and only time will tell whether the duo can make a comeback.

“This is a problem of plenty, not embarrassment of many. Why are we embarrassed when we have the riches? Let's use terms that best exemplify our bench. Of course, Jaiswal has a place in this team, but this innings by Abhishek Sharma would train all eyes on him,” said Ashwin.

“He's such a pretty-looking batsman who makes cricket look so easy on the eye. It will be tough to take our eyes off him,” he added.

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