Dinesh Chandimal bats for Suryakumar Yadav's inclusion in India's ODI XI

Suryakumar Yadav has been selected in the India Test team [Source: Associated Press]

Veteran Sri Lankan batter Dinesh Chandimal reckons that Suryakumar Yadav can be a vital cog of the current Indian team's middle order in the One-day Internationals.

Despite his exponential rise in T20 cricket for India, the number one ranked T20I batter in the world- Suryakumar Yadav is struggling to find a place in India's ODI eleven. Suryakumar scored the first hundred of this calendar year for India in the recently concluded T20I series. 

But failed to retain his spot for the 50-over fixtures against the same opposition. Ahead of the ODI series, Suryakumar Yadav scored his 3rd T20I century against Sri Lanka on Sunday. The 360-degree batter Suryakumar Yadav's axe from the playing XI did shock him and most of the cricket fans around the globe. He's yet to feature in the ongoing three-match ODI series.

Speaking on Surykumar's omission from the ODI XI, former Sri Lankan skipper Chandimal feels that it is a testimony to India's incredible bench strength in white-ball cricket that has forced the management to bench India's most dynamic white-ball batter of recent times.

“Looking at this Indian team, it shows how much strength is there in the bench. I still feel Surya can play in the middle order in this Indian team. He is different from other batters. You need a guy like him in the middle-order,"  said Dinesh Chandimal.

It is pertinent to note that, unlike his complete dominance in T20Is, Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t been as successful in ODIs. In 16 ODI matches format so far, the 32-year-old has only scored two half-centuries and has an underwhelming average of 32. The dynamic batters' strike rate also barely crosses the 100 mark in the 50-over format.

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