“Please help me, AB de Villiers”: Suryakumar Yadav sends an SOS to the South African legend

Suryakumar Yadav, who is considered one of India’s most dynamic T20I batsmen, admitted that his success in the shortest format is yet to carry over to One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The Indian T20I skipper, who is struggling to cement his place in the ODI squad, opened up about the challenges he faced and shared that he plans to seek guidance from South African legend AB de Villiers on how to master both the formats.

Speaking on journalist Vimal Kumar’s YouTube channel, Suryakumar revealed that he often tries to play ODIs with the same mentality as T20 cricket; that now feels like this may have backfired. “If I meet him soon, I would like to ask AB how he managed to balance T20Is and ODIs. I thought ODIs could be played like T20Is but clearly I was wrong,” he admitted.

Addressing the Proteas great directly, he added: “AB, if you’re listening, please get in touch now! I’ve got three or four important years ahead of me and I can’t wait to make a mark in ODI cricket. Please help me – I haven’t found that balance between the two formats.”
The 35-year-old right-hander has scored 773 runs in 35 ODI innings at an average of 25.76, while de Villiers, one of cricket’s all-time greats, has amassed 9,577 runs from 228 ODIs for South Africa.

Suryakumar also praised Washington Sundar and Jitesh Sharma for their brilliant performance against Australia in the third T20I; both remained unbeaten and led India to a five-wicket win. “They were working really hard and just waiting for their moment. Washi showed great adaptability, Jitesh played sensibly and Arshdeep was amazing. It felt like a perfect team combination tonight,” Surya said.

[With TOI inputs]