Several players like Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Deepak Chahar have impressed in the ODI series. However, there is still one concern for the team and that is the form of Manish Pandey.
Suryakumar Yadav on Manish Pandey
The 31-year-old batsman has been in and out of the limited-overs team for a few years. There is no doubt about the talent but Pandey has been inconsistent with his displays with the bat. In the three-match ODI series also, Pandey showed promise but wasn’t able to fire on and score big in all the matches. In the three ODIs, Pandey scored 26, 37, and 11 runs respectively.
With Suryakumar Yadav emerging as a credible middle-order batsman, Pandey’s place in the side is in doubt. After the 3rd ODI, Suryakumar was asked why Pandey kept his spot in the team for the 3rd ODI despite failing to score big in the previous matches.
“That was completely team management’s decision, I did not get involved in that. Manish Pandey has been batting really well as we saw in the practice games. We played intra-squad matches as well. In the last game, he was batting really well, but he got dismissed in an unfortunate way. This is not my call so I really do not know about it,” Suryakumar told reporters after the match.
After opting to bat first, India managed to score only 225. Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson scored 49 and 46 runs respectively at the top of the order while Suryakumar hit 40 off 37 balls.
Sri Lanka did not face a lot of trouble as they chased down the target in the 39th over after the match was reduced to 47 overs per side due to rain.
Suryakumar’s wait lasted 98 List A games before getting his debut ODI cap. In fact, in the last 20 years, he is the only Indian cricketer apart from Faiz Fazal (who played one ODI against Zimbabwe in 2016) to make his ODI debut after turning 30.
Also read: SL vs IND 2021: Suryakumar Yadav Lauds ‘Showstopper’ Prithvi Shaw
