India will be concerned about Suryakumar Yadav’s form leading into the T20 World Cup in 2021, according to former Pakistan captain Salman Butt. On current form, he believes Ishan Kishan would be a better option in the starting XI.
Suryakumar was removed for eight runs against England in a T20 World Cup 2021 warm-up match. He also struggled in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021. In seven games, the 31-year-old scored 144 runs, 82 of which came in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) penultimate league encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
When asked if Suryakumar’s form is a cause for concern in India, Butt agreed. He did note out, though, that India had a good substitute in Kishan, who has been in excellent form recently.
Suryakumar Yadav
“Suryakumar Yadav’s flow is not the same as what we saw in Sri Lanka. Even in the IPL, if we take out the one innings in the final match of the UAE leg, he did not play a fluent knock in any of the other matches. If concerns over his form remain, Ishan Kishan can replace him in the playing XI. He has been in scintillating form. I feel if India have to pick between Suryakumar and Ishan, they should go with the latter on the current form. He can play game-changing knocks.” Butt opined
Kishan, 23, smashed 70 off 46 balls in a warm-up match against England in Dubai on Monday. India beat England by seven wickets, chasing down a 189-run target with one over to spare.
“If Kishan plays instead of Suryakumar Yadav, India will have two left-handers in the middle-order (Rishabh Pant being the other one), so it will also help the left-right combo. India’s top three are all right-handers. Down the order, there is Ravindra Jadeja as well, so there will be depth in the team as well.” Butt added
Kishan has appeared in three Twenty20 Internationals for India and has scored 80 runs at a strike rate of 145.45. Suryakumar, on the other hand, has 139 runs with a strike rate of 169.51 in four T20I games.
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