Rohit Sharma was expected to make a return to the Third T20 World Cup and at the toss when Virat was asked, "Are there any changes to your squad?"
Virat said, "Rohit comes in for SuryaKumar Yadav."
For once I felt I misheard that Surya has been dropped. I wanted to make sure what I heard was not right, but to my surprise and all fans' astonishment, Surya was indeed dropped.
SuryaKumar who had finally made his debut after scoring prolifically in the last three years did not get to bat in his first game as Virat and Iyer finished the game. So it was assumed that Surya will surely play the third T20 and if Rohit comes in, it might be KL Rahul who had two poor games with scores of just ‘one’ and ‘zero’ who gave the way for Rohit.
If at all India wanted to persist with KL Rahul and get Rohit in too, it would not be at the expense of a player who had made his debut the last game and did not get to bat and show why he has been scoring heavily in IPL for the last three years. SuryaKumar is not a young kid, he has touched 30 and been waiting for chances for a long time to play for India. This would definitely not only dent Surya Kumar’s confidence but hurt him badly as the team management has sent a clear message by dropping him for no fault of his, implying that he is not a part of the team’s plan when going for the World Cup.
Of late, it has been spoken-of and seen as well that India has a strong bench and a pool of talented players who can walk to the side. But I believe it's better to give a player who is making his debut after a long wait enough chances before he gets dropped.
We have seen what had happened to the talented Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson, and I am afraid SuryaKumar Yadav might become a forgotten talent too without being tried and tested.
