Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh says Suryakumar Yadav can do what MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh has done for India in the past and feels the destructive Mumbai batter should be in India’s starting XI in the ODI World Cup.
“Batting in the middle order is the toughest. Opening in one-dayers, you know where to score runs. You have a lot of time. But when you go in to bat after 20-25 overs, you need the game to know where you can find gaps to get boundaries and I don’t think anyone in the Indian team can do that better than Suryakumar,” Harbhajan said during a virtual press conference organised by Star Sports.
“And if it was up to me, I would play him in the team. Because when he is in the team, it increases the pressure on the opposition. Whether he fires or not.
“Because till the time he is at the crease, there will be pressure because on any day he can play a match-winning innings. He can hit 50-60 runs in 20 balls.
“So you have to play a player like this. You can’t waste him by keeping him out.”
Harbhajan backed the decision of selectors to pick Suryakumar Yadav over Sanju Samson in the World Cup squad.
“I feel Suryakumar Yadav is a complete, complete player,” he said.
“I don’t think the selectors have been harsh on Sanju Samson. I do feel Sanju is a very very good player, a quality player. But you can only select fifteen players. But picking Suryakumar over Sanju is the right call.
“Because the game that Suryakumar has in the middle overs, I don’t think Sanju has that game. Even he goes for big shots from the first ball, but the reliability Suryakumar gives you – he can score big.
“Sanju I feel plays the kind of cricket where there is a lot of chances that you get out. Whereas Suryakumar, I know a lot of people ask what has he done in ODIs, but what he has done in T20s, if his innings is only going to be that long then I feel in that position, there isn’t a better player than Suryakumar in India.
“What he can do at that position, neither Virat Kohli can do, nor Sanju or Rohit Sharma. Because what he does it’s a difficult job, batting at 5-6. What MS Dhoni has done, what Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) has done.”
