India captain Suryakumar Yadav once again courted mixed opinions among experts and on social media after not walking out to bat during India’s final league stage match against Oman in Abu Dhabi on Friday evening. Having secured qualification for the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 stage comfortably, India opted to rotate their batting order to give more game time to the lower-order players, with Suryakumar surprisingly demoting himself all the way to No. 11.
India finished on 188 for eight batting first, with the captain deciding to remain seated on the sidelines as Kuldeep Yadav and Harshit Rana shared the last partnership on the field. Despite the criticisms, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar lauded Suryakumar for his unconventional and pragmatic captaincy after the game that India held onto by a margin of only 12 runs.
Out of the box
“If he had batted for even one over, he could have hit a few fours and sixes and that would have been good for him. But the way he batted against Pakistan, may be does not need batting practice. He may have thought that Kuldeep Yadav’s batting could come in handy if India lose quick wickets in one of the matches. Perhaps that’s why he may have sent Kuldeep in to bat,” Gavaskar said in a chat with former India pacer Irfan Pathan on Sony Sports.
“He is a very unorthodox thinker. We saw in Sri Lanka that he himself bowled and also gave Rinku Singh the ball. He turned the game, which seemed to have slipped away, on its head and won India the match. He is an innovative thinker. May be that’s why he did not bat and sent in Kuldeep and Arshdeep Singh,” the 76-year-old went on to add.
‘Why not Rinku then?’
However, the 76-year-old Gavaskar’s son, Rohan, belonged to the club of pundits who did not seem too pleased with the Indian skipper’s approach during the game. Rohan said the team management could have opted to hand lower-order batter Rinku Singh some time out in the middle if Suryakumar had decided not to bat.
“What doesn’t register with me is, if Suryakumar Yadav isn’t going to bat clearly because he’s sent Arshdeep, Harshit, and Kuldeep all ahead of him, then he might as well take a rest,” Rohan told on Cricbuzz.
“Give Rinku a go. You’re not going to bat; you’re not going to contribute with the ball. If that’s the whole thought process, then let Rinku have a game.”
