Suryakumar Yadav, during India’s third ODI against Australia on Wednesday, marked his entry into the record book, but not for a pleasant cause. The 32-year-old batter, after getting dismissed off his first ball in the match, became the first cricketer to register three golden ducks in a row. He also became the first cricketer to register a golden duck in every match of an ODI series featuring a minimum of three games.
Overall, Suryakumar became the 14th cricketer to register a hat-trick of ducks (not necessarily off the first ball) in ODIs. Just like Surya, Sachin Tendulkar endured a similar type of turbulent phase of his ODI career when he scored three ducks on the trot in 1996. Interestingly, the other Indian cricketers holding the bizarre three ducks in a row record are mainly bowlers including Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
Suryakumar headed to the third ODI on the back of two golden ducks on the trot with Australian pacer Mitchell Starc trapping him LBW on both occasions. But in Chennai, the middle-order batter was sent in late to negotiate the Aussie spin duo of Aston Agar and Adam Zampa. Surya, who is considered to be comfortable against spin, couldn’t do justice to his reputation. Seemingly choked by the pressure situation, the 32-year-old ended up getting his off-stump rattled in the very first delivery from Agar.
While Suryakumar’s poor form in the Australia series has raised questions about his future in the ODI World Cup, Rohit Sharma backed the batter after the third ODI as the India captain acknowledged, “That can happen to anyone.” Rohit further referred to Surya’s sky-high form “over the past couple of years,” which, according to him, was the reason to “hold him back and give him that role for the last 15-20 overs where he could play his game.”
In addition, Rohit refused to judge Surya’s capability based on “only three balls” he played in the series. “I don’t know how much to look into it. To be honest, he got three good balls. Today, it wasn’t that good and he could have gone forward. He plays spin so well and the potential is always there. He is just going through that phase now,” the India opener explained.
Despite failing in the 50-over format, Surya’s batting in 20-over cricket needs no explanation. Also popular as India’s very-own ‘Mr 360’, SKY is currently the top batter in ICC’s T20I rankings. In his 48 T20Is so far, Surya has aggregated a total of 1,676 runs at an impressive average of 46.53 and strike rate of over 175. The right-handed batter has also got 13 T20I half-centuries under his belt.
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