India beat Oman by 21 runs to remain unbeaten in the Asia Cup 2025
Suryakumar Yadav demoted himself to bat at No. 11 sparking divided reactioins
Sunil Gavaskar, however, defended Yadav's move saying it was 'innovative'
Sunil Gavaskar has come out in support of Suryakumar Yadav who demoted himself to number 11 in the batting order in India's 21-run victory over Oman on Friday night in their last Asia Cup 2025 Group A clash. In a bizarre move, the Indian skipper kept demoting himself in the batting order and ultimately was slated to come in at number 11 before it was not required as India did not lose their ninth wicket.
Yadav also gave promotion to other Indian batters who had had less exposure with the bat in the tournament. Former India legend Gavaskar alluded to the same thing as he defended Yadav's thinking after India's 21-run win over Oman.
"If he had batted for even one over, he could have hit a few fours and sixes and that would have been good for him. But the way he batted against Pakistan, may be does not need batting practice," Gavaskar said in a conversation with former India pacer Irfan Pathan on Sony Sports.
"He may have thought that Kuldeep Yadav's batting could come in handy if India lose quick wickets in one of the matches. Perhaps that's why he may have sent Kuldeep in to bat." Gavaskar praised Suryakumar for his out-of-the-box thinking.
Gavaskar reminded of his unusual bowling changes against Sri Lanka in a T20I where he bowled himself and gave the ball to Rinku Singh.
"He is a very unorthodox thinker. We saw in Sri Lanka that he himself bowled and also gave Rinku Singh the ball. He turned the game, which seemed to have slipped away, on its head and won India the match," he said
"He is an innovative thinker. May be that's why he did not bat and sent in Kuldeep and Arshdeep Singh," the 76-year-old added
India had already reached the Super 4 stage but the win over also helped Yadav's men to win Group A and remain undefeated. India posted 188 for eight and went on to beat Oman by 21 runs.
Sanju Samson was the player of the match for his half-century.
