IND vs SA, ODI World Cup 2023: Suryakumar Yadav gears up for showdown against Keshav Maharaj

Suryakumar Yadav will be full of confidence after his gritty 49 against England. Both India and South Africa have already qualified for the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Suryakumar Yadav during India’s training at Eden Gardens on Saturday. (Image:

Calcutta: His left-arm strikes are on full display as explosive Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav prepared to take on Keshav Maharaj in a specialized manner on the eve of their World Cup match against South Africa on Saturday. While India were the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, the Proteas confirmed their place in the last four after Pakistan defeated New Zealand via the DLS method.

The Indian T20 specialist, who is yet to replicate this in the ODIs, averages 17.00 against left-arm spin and has been dismissed eight out of 18 times in the ODIs so far. On the day the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul skipped their optional training, Surya took to the spin bowling net for a long session with the local left-arm tweakers.

Hardik Pandya’s ankle turn against Bangladesh had created an opening in the team for Surya and the Indian 360-degree batsman showed that he too can bat with patience in a spirited 47-ball 49 against England that saved them from a tricky 131 /4 to 229/9 on a sticky Ekana wicket.

Surya knows the situation well because he represented Kolkata Knight Riders for four seasons before being picked by the Mumbai Indians in 2018. “You have to continuously improve. You have to keep evolving. You have to keep getting better. And the more situations he finds himself in and how he comes out of it, like he did very well against England, the better he will succeed,” Indian coach Rahul Dravid said about Suryakumar developing as a reliable ODI batsman.

“Yes, I mean there are just terms when it comes to the areas he scores in T20 cricket and how fast he has to go in T20 cricket. He’s clearly been exceptional at that. And it’s good to see that one day in cricket he also realizes that sometimes you can give yourself a little more time to get used to it. And then you know how dangerous he can be in death,” Dravid added, well aware. that his heroic actions could be decisive in death.

Besides Surya, top Indian duo Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli also had long sessions as they faced pace and spin bowling in both nets. Kohli has missed Sachin Tendulkar’s record 49th ODI century three times in a row and he will look to make up for it again when he moves to No. 3 on his 35th birthday.

Kohli was greeted beforehand with “Happy Birthday King Kohli” by about a thousand fans who managed to sneak into the stadium from the sidelines of their training session.