‘He only played three balls in the series’ – Rohit Sharma assesses Suryakumar Yadav’s woeful run in ODIs

Team India skipper Rohit Sharma provided his honest take on flamboyant batter Suryakumar Yadav’s woeful run in ODIs. Notably, the Men in Blue lost the series decider clash by 21 runs against the Aussies at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, on Wednesday, March 22.

In the midst of the chase of 270 runs, Suryakumar returned back to the pavilion with a record third consecutive duck in the series. Spinner Ashton Agar cleaned up the 32-year-old in the 36^th over of India's run chase. Following the conclusion of the series, Rohit opined that the dismissal was ‘unfortunate’ and acknowledged the right-hander's lean patch in ODIs.

"He only played three balls in three (games) this series. I don't know how much to look into it. He got three good balls, to be honest. Today, it wasn't that good ball; he should have gone forward. He knows best. He plays spin so well. We have seen that over the last couple of years,” said Rohit post the game.

"That's why we held him back and give him that role for the last 15-20 overs where he can play his game, but it's really unfortunate he could only play three balls. That can happen to anyone. But the potential and ability is always there. He is just going through that phase right now," Sharma concluded.

Suryakumar Yadav joins unwanted list following three ducks

The top-rated T20I batter has failed to hit the ground running in the ODIs, which has put his performances and place in the team under speculation. With his record third duck, Suryakumar joined an unwanted list of batters with consecutive ducks. 

Notably, the Mumbai-born cricketer became only the sixth Indian batter to have registered three ducks on the trot, in the 50-over format. Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah are among the others on this list. Meanwhile, Steve Smith and Co. made a scintillating comeback to seal the series (1-2) in Chennai.