ICC World Cup 2023: Surya's performance will put Iyer's slot in danger

Suryakumar Yadav is an antithesis to what proverbial Mumbai school of batsmanship is all about dollops of doggedness in a fine mixture of style and classStyle and class has never been a problem with SKY He has given ample display of that in T20 cricket a format he has bossed with remarkable easeHowever some of his low scores in ODIs did raise questions if he is unable to blend a bit of serenity in his all or nothing approach which is perfectly in sync with T20s but not the 50over formatBut on Sunday at the Ekana Stadium in arguably the toughest batting conditions of the current World Cup Surya channelised his inner Mumbaikar to play an innings which would be rated very highly in terms of responsibility and substance quotientAlso Read ICC World Cup 2023 Pakistan expected to give all in mustwin clash against BangladeshThe 49 off 47 balls on a track where it was extremely difficult to just plonk frontfoot and hit through the line showed why the team management had way more faith in his abilities compared to a few other players who missed the World Cup busAnd not only did Surya do a world of good for himself but also put Shreyas Iyer under considerable amount of pressure going into the matches going forwardHardik Pandya who is nursing a left ankle grade 1 sprain damage to fibers of ligament is expected to come back towards the business end of the league stage and a debate could ensue who should stay in playing XI Iyer who is enduring a low string of scores or Surya who has proved what he could do in critical situationsWe all know what Surya can do in T20Is What was impressive was how he read the situation and was ready to play the second fiddle till Rohit was at the crease It was a top class innings keeping conditions in mind and he only played his customary pickup shot behind square when he knew that it is time to attack former national selector Jatin Paranjape saidOn Sunday you saw that khadoos Mumbaikar in Surya where he was ready to show the other side of his batting And if you ask me about what happens when Hardik comes back I would like to see Surya continue in his role and KL Rahul can bat at No 4 in place of Shreyas Iyer opined ParanjapeFor someone with a hittingrange like that of Surya and those 360 degree shot it was heartening to see him honour the conditions rather than the bowlersHe employed the difficult sweep shot after gauging that both offspinner Moeen Ali and legspinner Adil Rashid are getting reasonable purchase off the track He didnt try to sweep the spinners against the turn but with itHead coach Rahul Dravid has always spoken about Surya needing to find some more scoring areas as his hitting range has been primarily square and behind the wicket in T20 cricketIn shortest format that isnt an issue but in 50 overs there is a middle phase where rotation of strike becomes paramountA look at Suryas scoring chart will show that he has taken 19 singles and at least 15 of them came infront of the square as he kept the scoreboard tickingHe knew that it wasnt a 280plus track and 240 would be a fighting total He changed his game accordingly and that was the best part former India keeper Deep Dasgupta who is now noted commentator saidDasgupta who is tracking the Indian team for the host broadcaster also agreed that Surya has a strong case for keeping his place in playing eleven when Hardik comes backThere are two ways to describe a lean patch One where you look good but you are not getting runs and Shreyas isnt looking in great touch And if you talk about sticking to specific roles then I believe number 5 and 6 are interchangeable SKY and Hardik can both fillup the roles as per game situation Dasgupta saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever