The former Indian opening batsman Kris Srikkanth is not at all amused with India’s experimentation of using Suryakumar Yadav as an opener in the ongoing T20I series against the West Indies. Suryakumar has faced 22 balls in the first two games of the series and has scored 35 runs, but he was far more consistent in the middle order.
Kris Srikkanth, who is one of the experts at Fancode for the India Vs West Indies T20I series, is perplexed by the fact that India has tried to fix something which is not even broken because if they don’t have their first-choice opener KL Rahul available for this series, they have got Ishan Kishan.
Srikkanth thinks India could have opened with Ishan Kishan and left Shreyas Iyer out of the playing XI. Changing Suryakumar’s batting position doesn’t make any sense at all, because he was playing some of his best cricket while he was batting in the middle order.
Indian Team's experiment for the Opening slot continues. First Rishab Pant and now Suryakumar Yadav. Both failed. I think If not KL Rahul then Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson seems to be a better option. Not ruling out Rohit-Kohli to open if all other option Fails. #WIvsIND
— Nitesh Chauhan (@Nitesh_Chauhan7) July 29, 2022
Mohammed Kaif also echoed the thoughts of Kris Srikkanth
According to Srikkanth, if Suryakumar Yadav has a few failures at the top of the order, he might lose his confidence and confidence is vital for any player at the highest level of the game. Srikkanth urged the Indian team management not to “spoil” a player as good as Suryakumar.
Suryakumar Yadav is solid middle order batsman. Why he is being in opening slot where he is slightly looking uncomfortable. He is one of best T20 batsman and should be utilized in right manner. Play Ishan Kishen as opener instead of Shreyas Iyer. #IndvsWI #SuryakumarYadav
— Pankaj Kumar Sinha (@PankajK81742908) August 2, 2022
Mohammed Kaif, another expert at Fancode, also echoed the views of Kris Srikkanth and said even if India wanted to go with the same XI that they went within the first two games, they had the option of opening the batting with Rishabh Pant who has opened the batting in domestic cricket and IPL before. And, he opened for India even on the recent England tour.
It’s interesting now what combination the Indian team management goes with, in the third T20I against West Indies, because the series is leveled now with India having lost the second T20 international yesterday in St Kitts.
