edited by: Aditya Maheshwari
Last Update: January 09, 2023, 16:26 IST
Team India batters Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul (AFP Image)
KL Rahul recently lost his ODI vice-captaincy to Hardik Pandya after his stellar performances with the bat.
Former cricketer Wasim Jaffer feels Suryakumar Yadav deserves a place over KL Rahul in India’s ODI XI for the first match against Sri Lanka. middle order batsman rahul India In the 50-over format, hasn’t been at his best recently and has struggled to score runs in crucial matches. He scored his last ODI century in March 2021.
On the other hand, Suryakumar has been in scintillating form in the shortest format as he recently scored his third T20I century in the last 6 months.
Jaffer feels the spotlight will be on the Indian batsmen who struggled in the ODI series against Bangladesh last year and Suryakumar’s recent form has put him ahead of Rahul in the race for a place in the XI.
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“The red-hot form Suryakumar Yadav is in, I prefer him over KL Rahul for the first ODI. The focus will be on the Indian batsmen as they did not fare well in the Bangladesh ODIs. The bowlers did really well there,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo.
Rahul had recently lost the vice-captaincy of the ODI team to Hardik Pandya after his impressive performances with the bat. In the Bangladesh ODIs, Rahul scored 95 runs in three matches at an average of 31.66.
Jaffer also pointed to the recent failures of the Indian top-order and said that if the Men in Blue want to score more than 300, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli Have to play big innings.
“Earlier, when the strength of the Indian team was the top three with Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, we usually used to see consecutive hundreds from them. This has not been happening for a long time. If India want to go for 280-300 or 300 plus, the top 4 will have to be on fire.”
“Shreyas Iyer has been in good form, he has been an exceptional player, he has scored runs consistently. But still Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Virat Kohli will have to shoulder some responsibility in this series.”
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The former opener further said that the venue for the first ODI – Barsapara Stadium is a high-scoring ground and the spotlight will be on the return of Rohit and Kohli.
“The Barsapara Stadium is a huge venue, no doubt about it and we can expect a high-scoring ODI as well. There will be a lot of eyes on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are returning to the team, there will be expectations of big scores from them.
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