‘I take the blame myself’: Suryakumar Yadav deeply regrets failed ODI career

Suryakumar Yadav has admitted that he has only himself to blame for his failure to carve out a longer career in ODI cricket despite becoming one of India’s most successful T20 batsmen.The former India T20I captain played 37 ODIs and scored 773 runs at an average of 25.76, numbers that never quite reflected the impact he had in the shortest format. His last ODI appearance came in the 2023 World Cup final against Australia and he has not appeared in India’s 50-over squad since.Suryakumar, who led India to T20 World Cup glory earlier this year, admitted that his ODI career remains a source of disappointment. Rather than pointing to selection challenges or circumstances, he accepted responsibility for not doing enough to adapt to the demands of the format.“Hypothetically, we can say anything – that if I had come into the team in 2016, I could have played Tests and probably done well in ODIs. But the reality is that I only played one Test and one innings. Then the other players came back and started playing again, so it didn’t happen. But I’m definitely disappointed in myself as far as ODI cricket is concerned.“It was a white-ball format, just like T20s, but to be very honest, I personally feel that I didn’t put as much effort into that format as I should have,” Suryakumar Yadav said on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel.

Why Suryakumar found ODI cricket difficult

While T20 cricket has allowed Suryakumar to thrive with his aggressive stroke play, he believes ODI cricket requires a much more deliberate approach from the batsmen.He described the 50-over game as the most difficult format for a batsman as the situation can change quickly, especially for those coming in at No. 4, 5 or 6.“I feel ODI cricket is probably the most difficult format to play batting in, whether you’re batting lower down the order or wherever. You can be two down if you’re batting at No.4, or four down for 24 if you’re batting at No.6. Anything can happen. You have to bat almost like a Test match. You give them the bat and bowl slowly at first. 50 or sometimes 75, then it take on 100 and eventually end up with 130 or 140, similar to what you do in T20 cricket,” he added.According to Suryakumar, the challenge was not just about batting in a different format. He has been trying to figure out exactly how he needs to build an innings in ODI cricket, especially in the middle order.

“I didn’t make an extra effort”

Suryakumar revealed that he knew he was likely to fill the middle-order role, but he failed to put the same level of preparation into ODI cricket that he is now giving to T20 cricket.“Personally, I feel I couldn’t crack how to approach the format. I knew I’d probably be batting at No. 5 or 6, but even then I didn’t work hard enough to understand the format. Before I could blink, those 20-25 games were gone. I don’t even know when it happened or how it happened. And yes, I definitely couldn’t regret not playing more ODI cricket, why didn’t I play in that format better. I take the blame for not putting in the extra effort I put in now that I’m playing T20 cricket, I’ll be training for an hour and a half,” he said.Hence, Suryakumar’s ODI career remains one of the unfinished chapters of his international journey. Despite having a major impact on T20 cricket, he failed to translate that success into the 50-over format before his run in the ODI side ended after the 2023 World Cup final.