The announcement of India’s T20 World Cup squad has triggered huge discussion, with questions being raised on Suryakumar Yadav's selection. Yadav, who is India's current T20I captain, retained his place despite experiencing a prolonged slump with the bat. Commenting on Yadav's selection, former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa defended him, citing former captain MS Dhoni, saying Dhoni endured a lean patch during the 2011 World Cup but performed well in times of need. Despite the lean patch, Yadav has been granted a reprieve, largely because of his leadership role.
“I remember that Dhoni wasn't in the best of form. If I'm not wrong, I don't think he got more than one or two fifties in the entire World Cup, and the final was one of those. He was not in very good form. It's happened before, where teams have carried important players who were not in good form because of what they can potentially do; they're match-winners,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Uthappa further stressed that Yadav is not out of form; rather, he is out of runs.
“I don't think SKY is out of form. People who haven't played cricket at a certain level will not understand when we're saying he's not out of form; he's out of runs. Ollie Pope is out of form; Shubman Gill looks out of form. In this series, I've watched SKY bat in the nets. Boy, he was hitting shots in fog. He was hitting full-length balls over third man for six. Like what he did in the IPL, he was doing that, off the front foot. You can't do that if you're not in form.”