Surya should be batting at No 3: Akash Chopra ahead of 1st T20I against England in Kolkata

New Delhi [India], January 22 (ANI): Ahead of the first T20I match against England, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra shared his views on top Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav's performance in the T20 format and suggested that the 34-year-old should bat at number 3.

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The Men in Blue are set to face England in the first match of the T20I series at Kolkata's iconic Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

Suryakumar played his maiden T20I match in 2021 against England. Following that he appeared in 78 games and scored 2570 runs at a strike rate of 167.86 and has an average of 40.79.

Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, Chopra remarked that Suryakumar's T20I performances over the past year had been average. He noted that batting at number 4 seems to be less effective for Suryakumar, emphasizing that he performs better when batting at number 3.

"Honestly, for Surya, it's a little interesting. If we see the T20 numbers for the last whole year, they are very middling numbers. So, it's been a pretty dry period for Surya runs-wise. He didn't shine that much, but batting at number 4, I think, is a little counterproductive. Surya should be batting at 3, but he has given his place to Tilak. So, he will have to wait because, in the beginning, when the runs are more, Surya has less time to actually express himself. So, it's going to be difficult once again," Chopra was quoted in a release from Star Sports as saying.

The five-match T20I series will kick off on January 22 in Kolkata. The second and third matches will be held on January 25 and 28 in Chennai and Rajkot, respectively. The fourth game of the series will be played on January 31 in Pune. Mumbai will host the final match of the T20I series on February 2.

India's squad for the T20I series against England: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (WK), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel (VC), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (WK). (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)