CHENNAI: Suryakumar Yadav has made a name for himself in white-ball cricket. Since his T20I debut, he is second in the run-scoring chart, with eleven fifties and three centuries at an average of 47 while striking at 176. While he isn't expected to be the next cab off the rank in terms of making a debut — India are expected to stick with the tried and tested apropos batting department — the 32-year-old could be a wild card if the management decide to bring him in to strengthen a middle-order shorn off the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. At least, that's what former coach Ravi Shastri feels.
"Suryakumar Yadav might get the opportunity in that Test, and he is going to play his natural game," Shastri said in a virtual press conference organised by the host broadcaster. "He had talked about being proactive when it comes to batting. I think he's one player who will be proactive. Especially with Nathan Lyon or the other spinners, he'll be looking to score all the time and looking to rotate strike."
Shastri, the coach of the team when Yadav made his international bow (against England in March 2021), opined the batter's ability to rotate strike is a big advantage. "If you want to do well in India either as a home side or a team coming from overseas, you got to rotate strike," he said. "You can't have bowlers bowling maidens at you. You have to find a way where you want to score, not think of just blocking, because that can create real problems for you. So I think he'd be very useful in that position," added Shastri.
Yadav's ability to score quickly is an added advantage. "He might come and play a little cameo on a track that's spinning a lot where a 30-40 (runs) could decide the fate of the game. He can get it quickly and disrupt the opposition. So India will be thinking in that fashion there."
When asked to predict, Shastri said the hosts would win convincingly. "As far as the series result goes, I think India should back themselves to win the series by a 2-match margin. Especially playing at home, you've got the bowlers for that. You have got the batting line-up as well. I think you have to put pressure from (the) Test Match one." stated Shastri.
Star Sports is the official broadcaster for the India - Australia series