I didn't understand it: Mohammad Kaif on India's call to open with Suryakumar Yadav 

SKY's cheap dismissal intensified the voices for his demotion  

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has slammed India’s decision to open with Suryakumar Yadav in the first T20I against West Indies.

While analysing the game on FanCode, Kaif opined that Suryakumar has established himself as a fine middle-order batter who can go bonkers in the death overs. 

More importantly, as Kaif said, the Mumbai batter will bat at four once Virat Kohli and KL Rahul return to India’s T20I team. 

Therefore, the 41-year-old found India’s tactic to use Suryakumar at the top, despite having Pant and Ishan Kishan in the squad, illogical. 

"Suryakumar has the role of controlling the innings in the middle and adding those finishing touches. In fact, his role will remain as the No. 4 batter when Kohli and Rahul return. Clearly, I did not understand what happened."

Further, Kaif reckoned that the Indian think tank should have persisted with Pant at the top order in at least five more T20Is, continuing the trend of backing their players. 

"If you were trying Rishabh Pant as the opener for 2-3 matches, then you should have gone with him today as well. Give him at least five chances. And this strategy of captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, they back the players for at least 5-6 matches. But this did not happen with Pant."

Although India won the first T20I convincingly by 68 runs, their decision to partner Rohit Sharma with Suryakumar at the top received huge backlash. However, some experts justified the call, highlighting Suryakumar’s pace-hitting prowess in the powerplay. 

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