Former India player Ravichandran Ashwin commented on star India batter Suryakumar Yadav’s breezy knock in the first T20I against New Zealand. However, Team India are hosting New Zealand for a five-match series and won the first game by 48 runs on Wednesday, January 21 as well.
“It is a monkey of the back. A lot of people were talking about Suryakumar’s batting and his form and all of that. In all honesty, in T20 cricket, you dont have to aim for consistency. What I liked that he got those runs, he looked in good touch today. If a batter wants to look to get runs, they would have looked to get a fifty. But Surya did not do that. This team has a theme they will look to keep scoring and hitting. He looked in his element. He looked good and this is a big positive for him,” he said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.
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“I think this will be the team. There will not be many changes. I don’t know if you should rotate Arshdeep and bring in Harshit. You should keep Arshdeep in T20s. He is a marquee bowler. There is no chance to leave him. Maybe there will surely be a conversation to bring in a bowler seeing how Dube’s bowling goes. But he got three overs today. So they are backing his bowling and I think there are conversations around him bowling. This is probably the combination,” he further added.
Meanwhile, Team India’s star wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav did not play in the first T20I against New Zealand. However, he did not have a good ODI series, which India lost 1-2. He also claimed just three wickets from as many games at an average of 60.66 and an economy rate of 7.28 as well.
“Kuldeep’s ODI series did not go well. So this maybe a break for him to reflect upon. But I am a big fan. You will have to get strong as a pack in T20 cricket and address the strengths somewhere else. If you don’t have Bumrah or someone else, then you have to address with a bit of batting depth. But in this team, you are getting runs in the powerplay, Hardik is scoring, you have seven bowling options. I would like to play Bumrah, Arshdeep, Varun, and Kuldeep. But if it like today, then it is absolutely fine,” R Ashwin concluded.
