Indian batting sensation Suryakumar Yadav, who recently led India in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, doesn’t give up on his Test career. More than a year has passed since his omission from the Test squad, but Suryakumar is no less keen to make an impact in the whites again in the longest format of the game. His love for Test cricket has not waned, and he is indeed working towards getting back his red-ball career on track.
Suryakumar was not originally part of Mumbai’s list for the pre-season Buchi Babu Invitational tournament in Tamil Nadu. He, however, has written to the selectors making his availability known for the second half of the first-class season that goes on till the end of August 2024.
SKY’s desire for a Test comeback is shown through his act of playing. He will play under Sarfaraz Khan’s leadership – Suryakumar had asked the selectors to retain Sarfaraz as captain. Suryakumar will turn out for Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir in Salem from August 27.
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In a recent interview, Suryakumar expressed his ambitions of playing for India across all formats and mentioned how the Buchi Babu Invitational will help him in his preparations for the red-ball season ahead. “I want to play for India in all three formats and playing in Buchi Babu will give me good practice for the red-ball tournaments this season,” Suryakumar told ESPNcricinfo.
Suryakumar Yadav to play Buchi Babu tournament, hopes to make a Test comeback https://t.co/9XQAnnX4tP
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Suryakumar recently led India to an emphatic 3-0 victory in the T20I series over Sri Lanka, his debut series as a full-time captain for the national side. However, though he does well as a captain, he is not included for the following ODI series. According to Ajit Agarkar, BCCI’s chairman for the selection committee, Surya Kumar is not in India’s ODI plans at present, which caused his axing.
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With the Indian team not due to play any T20Is until their Test series against Bangladesh in October, Suryakumar has plenty of time to focus on first-class cricket, thereby strengthening his case for a Test recall. His most recent stint in first-class cricket came in the Duleep Trophy in July 2023. He has aggregated 5628 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 43.62, with 82 matches returning 29 fifties and 14 hundreds.
