India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour breaks silence on Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI snub: ‘They are not forced’

Notching up a double hundred in an ODI game and scoring consistently in white-ball cricket could certainly guarantee a player a long run in the playing XI.

But times have changed. Immense competition in the team for every single spot and with the ODI Word Cup just eight months away, no player is a certainty. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav certainly “understands” that, feels India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour as he broke silence on their ODI snub for the series against Sri Lanka at home, which has been the cynosure of the contest despite the hosts’ unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-game contest.

In only his previous game, against Bangladesh, Ishan, who was handed a rare opportunity with captain Rohit Sharma ruled out with injury, scored a record double ton. Suryakumar, on the other hand, has been consistent in the white-ball format, especially in T20Is where he is the No.1 ranked batter in the world. Continuing his sublime form in 2023 as well, he scored a century in the T20Is as well against Sri Lanka. Yet the two were snubbed from the ODI playing XI for the Sri Lanka series to make way for Shubman Gill and KL Rahul.

The call left fans and veteran cricketers furious, but Rathour, speaking to the media ahead of the final ODI in Kerala, broke his silence on the matter explaining that with “others are doing good as well”, they “need to wait for their opportunity”.

“They are not forced (to sit out), I mean, the others are doing good as well. As players they do understand that, and they need to wait for their opportunity, and they are preparing for that, they train hard and whenever that opportunity comes, they do well and hold on to their places,” Rathour said.

When further asked if Ishan can be used in the middle-order as well, Rathour said: “At the moment, he has been picked as an opener but as a batting unit we are flexible and if there is a need to try somebody like Ishan in the middle order, we might have to. At the moment though, he is being looked at as an opener.”

When the discussion turned to Surya, the batting coach said, “He has great potential, he has been in great form, it is great to have him in the reserve, and hopefully, when the time comes, he will take that opportunity and do well for the team. It is great to have such versatile player in the team.”