With 201 runs in 19 T20Is this year, Indian T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav is not in the best of form in the shortest format of the game. The 35-year-old played a four-ball knock of five runs during India’s 51-run loss against South Africa in the second T20I at Mullanpur on Thursday. It also meant Yadav’s average in T20Is this year dropped to 14.35 in a total of 17 innings and the Indian captain has a strike rate of 126.45 in the format this year. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra sees this as a problem and termed Yadav’s primary role in the team ‘to score runs’.
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“You are the team’s captain, but a captain’s job is not just to toss and manage the bowlers. It’s not just about making the strategy. If you bat in the top four, your primary role is to score runs. It’s been many matches. If you have an average of 14 in 17 innings and the strike rate is also not very good, you don’t have a single fifty, and have crossed 25 just twice, it’s been a problem on either side of the IPL,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Yadav, who has been India T20 captain since last year after Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the format after winning the T20 World Cup, had played a knock of 12 runs in the first T20I against South Africa at Cuttack. Thursday’s knock at Mullanpur meant that Yadav now has nine single digit scores in T20Is this year with his score of 47 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup being the highest this year. Chopra shared how he has no doubt about Yadav’s captaincy but shared that the Indian captain needs to score runs. “I am not saying there is any doubt over Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, or that he won’t be India’s captain in the World Cup. I am not suggesting that at all, so don’t ever misquote me, but the truth is that he needs to score runs,” added Chopra.
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Yadav’s deputy Shubman Gill too has struggled with form in T20Is this year. Gill has scored a total of 263 runs in 14 T20Is this year with a n average of 23.90 and a strike rate of 142.93. Gill scored a golden duck at Mullanpur and Chopra believed scoring runs for Yadav as well Gill is absolutely imperative with them being the captain and vice-captain respectively.
“If you are playing at No. 3 or No. 4 and are not scoring runs, and they aren’t being scored consistently and over a long period of time, you won’t be that confident when you start the World Cup. So, Suryakumar Yadav, the captain, and Shubman Gill, the vice-captain, scoring runs is absolutely imperative,” added Chopra.