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Rohit Sharma tipped on Monday. Still, it came as a surprise that India went into the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati without Suryakumar Yadav in the line-up. He is the best batsman in India today. Form in limited-overs cricket, no matter what distinction Sharma tried to draw between T20Is and ODIs on the eve of the gameIn response to a question regarding the midorder on Monday, the India captain replied: "It's a big problem to be in pain instead of not having a headache. We'll see who did well for us in ODI cricket and what situations they did well in cricket. The problem arises when you start comparing different formats. Those who performed at ODI will get a shot, it's as simple as that. Form matters, but so does format.Sharma's direct reference to ODI numbers seemed like justification for supporting Shreyas Iyer in Tuesday's starting XI against Yadav. Average of 32 and hit rate of 100.52. Iyer, on the other hand, had 1537 runs in 39 ODIs at 48.03 and a strike rate of 96 prior to Tuesday.
But perhaps the bigger debate should be about benching KL Rahul at the expense of an in-form Yadav. High score 73. His hit rate is also down to 80.19.Rahul's slump has affected all formats but he continues to resonate when it comes perhaps to returning to domestic cricket and rediscovering his confidence. On one occasion, India decided to skip Ishan Kishan, a double centurion in his last ODI outing: India had to have Rahul in the mix as he is the only other wicketkeeper available. Rahul hit 39 balls from 29 on Tuesday, clearly not enough runs to support his recent numbers.
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Regardless of the eleven's record, aren't there strong arguments that Yadav should be one of the first names on the squad list? The supposed difference between T20I and ODI form that Sharma wanted to highlight is also revealing. from an Indian point of view. When teams like England, the leaders in white ball cricket, view the 50+ format as a longer version of the T20, India risks being stuck in a time warp unless they back a batsman of Yadav caliber. Sri Lanka's bowlers must have breathed a sigh of relief to discover they didn't have to deal with Suryakumar's 360-degree range in a belt toss. In the third T20I at Rajkot on Saturday, Yadav delivered the coup de grace with an enterprising 51-ball 112* that just took your breath away.With only 14 bilateral ODIs and the Asian Cup leaving India ahead of the World Cup, does Yadav's previous ODI average mean he won't get a chance to correct it?
