DUBAI: Suryakumar Yadav believes teams must be flexible to master cricket’s 20-overs format and is fine with a floating position in India’s batting lineup, the explosive batsman said.
Yadav smashed an unbeaten 68 off 26 balls as holders India thumped minnows Hong Kong by 40 runs on Wednesday to sail into the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup with their second successive win.
On a slow track where other batsmen could not really break loose, Yadav helped India overcome a sluggish start, hitting six sixes in an incendiary knock coming at number four.
Pundits see merit in promoting the 31-year-old ahead of Virat Kohli, who made a sedate 59 not out, but Yadav said he was not fussy about his slot in the order.
“I’m really flexible to bat at any number,” said player of the match Yadav, currently third in the official rankings for Twenty20 batters. “In fact I’ve told the coach and the captain - ‘play me anywhere, just let me play’,” he told reporters with a smile.
With an eye on the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia beginning next month, India have been constantly rejigging their batting lineup to identify a winning combination.
“We are trying a lot of things and experimenting a lot, and it’s better to try those things out in matches like this than in the nets,” Yadav set.
The experimentation included the idea of batting first and Yadav said the players had a better idea how to construct an innings and set up a winning target.
Kohli, Suryakumar power India into Asia Cup Super Four
“What would be an ideal total, what type of tempo we need to set in the middle overs, how to finish it … everything was crystal clear.
“If I could not do that, Rishabh (Pant), Dinesh Karthik or (Ravindra) Jadeja would have done that. We have enough firepower in that lineup.”
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