Dubai, Sep 20 India’s cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar praised T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav for the decisions he took during the recently concluded Asia Cup 2025 clash against Oman. Suryakumar led India to their third consecutive win in the tournament as the Men in Blue move to the Super Fours stage unbeaten.
In the team’s third and final group stage game against Oman on Friday, Suryakumar decided not to walk out to bat during India’s innings as they opted to bat first. All other 10 players of the playing XI got game time with the bat as the skipper demoted him to No. 11.
Many experts and pundits criticised the move, but Gavaskar believed it to be a sensible decision. Speaking on Sony Sports Network, the former India captain said:
“If he had batted for even one over, he could have hit a few fours and sixes, and that would have been good for him. But the way he batted against Pakistan, maybe he does not need batting practice. He may have thought that Kuldeep Yadav’s batting could come in handy if India lose quick wickets in one of the matches. Perhaps that’s why he may have sent Kuldeep in to bat.”
Calling the 35-year-old Mumbai batter an ‘innovative thinker,’ Gavaskar added: “He is a very unorthodox thinker. We saw in Sri Lanka that he himself bowled and also gave Rinku Singh the ball. He turned the game, which seemed to have slipped away, on its head and won India the match. He is an innovative thinker. Maybe that’s why he did not bat and sent in Kuldeep and Arshdeep Singh.”
Notably, India defeated Oman by 21 runs to make it three wins in a row.
The group stage of the Asia Cup concluded with the Men in Blue’s match against Oman on Friday, with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan moving to the Super Fours.
Six games will be played in the second stage of the tournament. Every team will play the other three opponents once, and the sides finishing in the top two of the points table will progress to the summit clash.
India will commence their Super Fours campaign with a match against arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday, 21 September, followed by games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on 24 and 26 September, respectively.
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