Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has criticized Suryakumar Yadav’s overly defensive batting style. He warned that this approach could backfire for the team in T20 and prevent the power-hitters from fully utilizing their potential.
Ahmedabad: Super 8 matches are about to start in the T20 World Cup, but before that, former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar has raised questions on the batting style of captain Suryakumar Yadav. Manjrekar has warned that the overly defensive approach of Suryakumar and Tilak Verma in batting may backfire for the team.
Manjrekar said that when the team was in trouble against America, the restraint shown by Suryakumar was praiseworthy. But after that, he continued the same ‘shutter down’ batting against Pakistan also. Manjrekar said in a video shared on Instagram that this method is not at all beneficial in the T20 format.
Manjrekar said, “There is one thing about Suryakumar Yadav’s batting which I don’t like at all. The way Surya played after falling 6 wickets for 77 runs against America was brilliant. But now he is adopting the same style excessively. Especially while batting first, as a captain, thinking that I have to stay at the crease is dangerous. Surya should not forget that the Indian team has a lot of batting power.”
When Surya and Tilak take more time to score runs, the team is unable to fully utilize the strengths of power-hitters like Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey and Rinku Singh. When there is a player like Axar Patel or Washington Sundar at number eight, then the top order batsmen should try to score maximum runs on every ball. Being too cautious despite having the wicket in hand, getting bowled out for 180 runs can lead to defeat against stronger teams.
Suryakumar Yadav, who is in great form in 2026, is the highest run-scorer for India in this World Cup after Ishan Kishan. But Manjrekar made it clear that wasting balls by taking just singles in the beginning of the innings can become a challenge against big teams like South Africa.