Rahul Dravid breaks his silence on Suryakumar Yadav's underwhelming performances in ODIs

Suryakumar Yadav has scored 19 and 24 in the two ODIs against West Indies.

Rahul Dravid, the Indian team's head coach, finally shared his thoughts on Suryakumar Yadav’s subpar performances with the bat in ODI cricket after he failed to help the team put a substantial total in the recent second ODI against West Indies in Barbados on Saturday.

Suryakumar Yadav, the no.1 ranked T20I batter in the world, has seemingly failed to crack the code to ODI cricket. He had made his ODI debut in 2021 against England and ever since then, he has featured in 25 ODI matches for India, where he has scored 476 runs at an average of 23.8 runs with two half-centuries.

However, his performances were not up to expectations and he even suffered the cruel fate of becoming the first batter to be out of the first ball he faced in three consecutive ODIs, a feat he achieved against Australia earlier this year.

He was also given the chance to feature in the ongoing ODI series between the West Indies and India. However, he has failed to impress so far, registering scores of 19 and 24 in the first two matches. 

After India suffered a 6-wicket loss in the second ODI in Barbados, India coach Rahul Dravid touched upon the subject of Suryakumar’s poor returns in ODIs and opined that Surya is a phenomenal player and is still learning the ropes of ODI cricket.

"Surya is a really good player, there is no doubt about that. He has shown that. Especially in T20 cricket, in domestic cricket, and in white-ball cricket. He has some very good performances. He would be the first one to admit that his ODI numbers haven't been up to the standards or the standards that he has set in T20," Dravid said in the post-match conference.

"He's also probably learning ODIs. He played a lot of competitive T20 cricket through the IPL before he made his debut for India. In One-dayers he hasn't played as much competitive cricket because there is no IPL for one-dayers," he added.

We want to give him as many opportunities as we can: Rahul Dravid on Suryakumar Yadav

Additionally, Dravid stated that Suryakumar Yadav should make the most of the possibilities that are given to him by the Indian squad, who are willing to provide the long rope that the batter requires to come good.

"He's also learning about his game, and learning to bat in the middle overs. He is a talent and we want to give him as many opportunities as we can. It is really up to him now to take those opportunities and use those opportunities. In the kind of setup, we are, we give people as many chances as we possibly can," Dravid said.

India will play West Indies in the third and final ODI on Tuesday in Trinidad.