He is lucky to be in that squad – Tom Moody on Suryakumar Yadav’s selection in India’s 2023 World Cup squad

Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody reckons Suryakumar Yadav is lucky to be in India’s 2023 World Cup squad. India’s 15-man World Cup squad was announced on Tuesday by the Ajit Agarkar-led team. In 26 ODIs, SKY has scored only 511 runs at an average of 24.33 and he hasn’t been able to grab his opportunity in the 50-overs version.

Yadav has been batting at his best in the T20I format and he has shown the skills to turn the match on its head. But SKY is yet to take the ODI format by storm and he will look to deliver the goods in the ODI showpiece.

Moody feels the team’s think tank should have backed Tilak Varma. The left-hander had impressed on the West Indies tour, scoring 173 runs in the five T20I matches but he is yet to make his ODI debut.

“He is lucky to be in that squad purely because of the case that mounts against him for someone like Tilak Varma who gives you that left-hand batting specialist in the middle order who can bowl part-time spin,” Moody said while talking to ESPN Cricinfo.

“It gives them flexibility around the Ishan Kishan discussion. Doesn’t mean both of them can’t play in the same side but it gives the flexibility that Rohit Sharma talked about quite regularly in the press conference,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels Indian selectors could not have resisted the temptation of picking Suryakumar Yadav as he has the skills to get the job done with his pyrotechnics.

“I don’t think they were able to resist the temptation of a Suryakumar Yadav in 50-over cricket because of the kind of magic he has done in T20 cricket,” Manjrekar said in the aforementioned video.

“The thing about Suryakumar Yadav is that he plays quality T20 innings, he plays it on the big stage. And if there’s a situation similar to T20 cricket and the big stage in the World Cup, who can rule Surya playing a terrific unbelievable innings and getting India into a match-winning situation,” he added.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on October 8.

India’s Squad for ODI World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah