IND vs AUS: Former Australian Cricketer Impressed With Suryakumar Yadav Captaincy, But Highlights One Flaw

Suryakumar Yadav has impressed former Australian cricketer Simon Katich in his first few appearances as captain of the Indian team during the ongoing T20I series against Australia.

The 33-year-old was named captain of the national team for the first time in the absence of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who were being rested, and the unavailability of Hardik Pandya, who has been ruled out due to injury.

Suryakumar led from the front in the series opener with a 42-ball 80 as India chased down 209 in a last-ball thriller by 8 wickets. In the second match, the captain, who didn't contribute much with the bat ringed the bowling changes to seal a 44-run victory.

In the most recent outing, however, Suryakumar's Men in Blue suffered a 5-wicket loss despite setting a target of 223 as the bowlers struggled in the second half with dew setting in early in the match.

Katich has said Suryakumar has been good in the series so far, but may need to look at a sixth bowling option to provide some unpredictablity to the opposition.

"He's been very, very good throughout the series with his captaincy. He's been batting beautifully as well. I guess the only thing he could think of maybe is using the sixth bowler," Katich told JioCinema.

"He's been relying on five bowlers, so whether he can weave that sixth bowler in to provide some unpredictability later in the innings, that remains to be seen."

Team India has opted to use just five front-line bowlers in the three matches so far with all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar warming the bench. None of the Indian batters have been trusted to roll their arm over as a sixth bowling option.

The former Australian cricketer, who has had stints as coach in the Indian Premier League across franchises, feels Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna need to step up as the others are doing very well if India do stick to the same five bowling options.

"Avesh Khan was impressive in Guwahati and so was (Ravi) Bishnoi. Axar (Patel) has been excellent throughout. I guess he would like to see something more from Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh (Krishna)," Katich added.

India take on Australia in the fourth T20I at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Friday (December 1) before the series concludes with the final T20I at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday (December 3).

Suryakumar will continue leading the side even after the Australia series as he has been named the captain of T20I team for the South Africa tour with the likes of Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj all joining the squad for the 3-match series, starting on December 9.

India T20I squad for South Africa Tour

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja (vice captain), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.