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‘It Hurts To…’: Suryakumar Yadav Breaks Silence On Champions Trophy Snub

Bhargav Dixit

Suryakumar Yadav has had contrasting fortunes in the two white-ball formats. [Source: @realdpthakur17/X]Suryakumar Yadav has had contrasting fortunes in the two white-ball formats. [Source: @realdpthakur17/X]

Not many cricketers have the courage to publicly admit that they didn’t deserve to be part of the national team for a showpiece event such as the ICC Champions Trophy. India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, whose audacity while playing lunatic shots is unmatched, was courageous enough to accept the reason behind his continued ouster from the ODI squad.

SKY's Struggles In ODIs

Part of India’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 squad, Yadav hasn’t played a single ODI since the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad. If truth be told, all India have played are just three ODIs since then. However, there is no denying to the fact that the right-handed batter is nowhere in contention for the format.

Although astonishing to many, Yadav just hasn’t been able to carry forward his T20I form to the other limited-overs format. Even in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy season, he could only manage 38 runs across four innings at an average of 9.50.


"Why would it hurt? If I do well, I would have been in the Champions Trophy. If I don't do well, it's important to accept that. And at the same time, if you see the Champions Trophy squad, it's looking really good. Whoever is there, they are all good performers," Yadav told reporters ahead of the first India-England T20I in Kolkata tomorrow," SKY remarked speaking to Star Sports.

Suryakumar Yadav Hurt By ODI Form

Yadav, 34, not only praised the selectors’ decision to pick the players they did but also expressed disappointment at this own performance. Averaging and striking at 40.79 and 167.86 respectively across 74 T20I innings, the numbers fall drastically to 25.76 and 105.02 for him in ODIs. Mind you, 35 innings is a handy sample size.

"They have done relatively well in that format for India and also playing domestic cricket and I am very happy for them. It hurts to think that I have not done well. And if I had done well, I would have stayed there. If I haven't done well, someone who deserves to have done really well, deserves to be there," the right-handed batter mentioned.

To put more context to Yadav’s ODI woes, it is to be noted that as many as 119 batters scored 500 runs between his ODI debut and his last match in the format. Barring Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka and Dhananjaya de Silva, no other batter from a Full Member Nation averages less than Yadav in this period.

Additionally, what the Indian ODI setup really needs right now are players who can contribute across departments and not an inconsistent swashbuckling batter.