'Please help me!' - Suryakumar Yadav seeks AB de Villiers' expert advice for ODI career

Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav has recently come out with a special request for former South African cricketer AB de Villiers. Suryakumar recently led India to the 2025 Asia Cup title and is currently involved in the T20I series against Australia.

Suryakumar expressed his desire to understand the art of balancing his style across the two white-ball formats. He made a heartfelt request to de Villiers for connecting with him to provide tips on what worked for the Proteas legend.

"If I meet him soon, then I will like to ask him how he managed to balance his T20I and ODI game. I haven't been able to do so. I thought ODIs should be played like T20Is. I want to ask him what he did to be successful in both the formats. AB, if you are listening to this, please get in touch with me quickly because there are important three-four years lying ahead for me. I’m very keen on playing ODI cricket also. Please help me! I couldn’t balance T20Is and ODIs", stated Suryakumar while speaking with Vimal Kumar.

As of November 4, Suryakumar has played one Test, 37 ODIs and 93 T20Is for India. While featuring in the red-ball setup is almost completely out of the picture due to competition for spots, Suryakumar feels he has a lot more scope in representing the nation in the 50-over format going forward. The 35-year-old has not played a single ODI match since the final of the World Cup in November 2023.

While Suryakumar's strike rate in ODIs stands at an impressive 105.02, his average sits at just 25.76. With the middle-order already stacked with aMPLE alternatives on the bench, Suryakumar will most likely have to put in strong performances in the domestic circuit to make his way through the ODI unit.

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It is noteworthy to mention that Suryakumar has not been in the best of form of late. In the Asia Cup, he scored only 72 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 101.40. Then, Despite starting off the T20I series with a brisk unbeaten 39-run knock, Suryakumar was able to manage only 25 runs in the next couple of innings. The fourth and fifth T20Is are scheduled to take place on November 6 and November 8, respectively.