Suryakumar Yadav will be leading India for the first time in a multi-nation tournament, the Asia Cup. He’ll get a taste of being the man in charge of big games like the India vs Pakistan match or knockout match, which includes the Super Four games and the final.
SKY will only have to overcome some personal hurdles as well. India’s T20I captain has never been able to perform against Pakistan, who are the biggest arch-rivals. Considered one of the best T20 batters in recent times, Surya hasn’t been able to make his mark whenever he’s faced the Men in Green.
SKY’s struggles against Pakistan
Former Pakistan batter Bazid Khan thinks this might be one of the weaknesses that Team India has, which Pakistan can take advantage of. Although Suryakumar is a 360-degree player who has no apparent issues against spin or pace, against Pakistan, he’s had issues.
“Suryakumar scores runs against almost everyone, but somehow, against Pakistan, he hasn’t been effective. Whether it is the pace attack or some other reason, it remains an issue,” Bazid told PTV Sports.
There isn’t a pattern either. He’s failed against them in Dubai in the 2021 T20 World Cup and 2022 Asia Cup. These are spin-friendly conditions. While the other two times have been in pace-friendly conditions in the 2022 T20 World Cup match in Melbourne and the 2024 T20 World Cup game in New York.
Most likely, it’s all random. For someone of his quality to fail against just one team seems unlikely. This is just one team against whom Suryakumar has played more than five matches and averaged less than 30. Even that’s 29.08 against England with a 171.92 strike rate.
Suryakumar Yadav T20I stats against Pakistan
| Inns | Runs | Avg | SR | 100 | 50 | HS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 5 | 64 | 12.80 | 118.51 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Asia Cup | 2 | 31 | 15.50 | 110.71 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
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