Not Captaincy! Ex India Star Points Out BIG Flaw That Affected Suryakumar Yadav's Form

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Wasim Jaffer has shed light on the recent batting struggles of Suryakumar Yadav, attributing his dip in form to a combination of captaincy pressure and limited shot selection.

Despite leading India to a convincing 4-1 T20I series win against England, Suryakumar's personal batting performance fell short of expectations.

Known for his explosive style in the T20 format, Suryakumar managed just 28 runs across five innings, averaging 5.60 with a strike rate of 116.67. Interestingly, many of his dismissals stemmed from attempts to execute his favored shots - pulls and flicks behind square on the leg side - tactics that England's bowlers effectively countered.

"He's not among the runs, and he needs to address that because he is such a good batter in the shortest format of the game and has been a game-changer for the team," Jaffer told The Times of India. "So, him not scoring runs for a while is a worry. I wouldn't say his form has dipped because of the captaincy. I think it's more about his shot selection in one particular area. He looks to score on the leg side only. He has been scoring and dominating the areas between square leg and fine leg. That's what I feel. He needs to address his offside shots as well."

Jaffer highlighted that opposition teams have identified and exploited this pattern. "Every team now knows how to bowl to Surya. They come with a specific plan and field against him. Everyone knows he hits the ball in that area only. He needs to address this by scoring in different areas. Sometimes, it seems like he has completely shut down his shots on the offside. He needs to look at his game and get it right. He's picking the wrong ball to hit, and that's why he's getting out. He's been getting out on low scores for a while now. He is a quality player, and I'm sure he will address this soon and come back to form," he added.

While the ex India star downplayed the direct impact of captaincy on Suryakumar's form, he acknowledged that the additional responsibilities could indirectly affect performance. "Yes, the dual responsibility does play a role. There's no doubt about that. As a captain, you have to handle the team, motivate the players, deal with the support staff, go for the toss, keep players in the right frame of mind, manage team combinations, wins, and losses, speak to selectors, and handle a lot more. But when you're not the captain, you just focus on your batting or bowling, and you focus solely on yourself," Jaffer explained.

With Suryakumar not being part of India's ODI or Test squads, he now has a significant window to work on refining his batting. The time until the start of IPL 2025 in March and the subsequent T20I series scheduled for July provides him with ample opportunity to address his technical flaws and regain his form.