Former South Africa batter JP Duminy feels that India should decide what brand of cricket they want to play in red-ball format and then pick the players accordingly. Flamboyant batter Suryakumar Yadav is in contention to make his Test debut in the series opener against Australia in Nagpur. Shreyas Iyer is reportedly ruled out of the Nagpur Test after failing to recover from the back injury. The Indian team management has a tricky task ahead of themselves to pick a choice between Shubman Gill or Surya to get a place in the middle-order.
The Mumbaikar has been in tremendous form in T20Is for the last couple of years and he also looked in good touch during the Ranji Trophy this season in the limited matches he played.
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Meanwhile, Shubman has played only as an opener so far in Test cricket but with KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma at top it will be tricky for him to retain his spot as an opener despite scoring a century against Bangladesh last year.
Talking about Suryakumar, Duminy suggested that if India want to play attacking cricket they can include the maverick batter in the XI for Nagpur Test.
“So Surya Kumar Yadav, probably one of the most exciting players in India now and I think from where Test cricket is going, I think as a country you need to decide what is the sort of brand of cricket that you’re going to be playing. And if it is that sort of attacking mindset, then I think he becomes an option,” Duminy said in the press conference.
While the veteran Proteas batter also talked highly of Shubman and said he has the technique and temperament to become an all-format player.
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“Shubman Gill certainly stake a claim for all formats and I think he has the technique and the temperament to do it. When he gets an opportunity to act now I don’t know whether there’s a gap for him just yet. But certainly in the near future,” he added.
Ace India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is seen as a white-ball maverick but Duminy sees no reason why Pandya cannot become an all-format player? “I’m always going to advocate all formats if the player has the ability to influence the game. I’ve played with him as well, and I think he has the ability to be a great player for India across all formats. I would certainly encourage him to do (play) all formats.”
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