'Suryakumar Yadav, I am sorry': Ex-chief selector apologises on live TV after India drop SKY for 1st ODI vs Sri Lanka

Imagining an Indian white-ball team without Suryakumar Yadav is difficult nowadays. He has been the best T20I batter for India and the world in the last 14-15 months or so. He has already scored three T20I hundreds - the second-most after Rohit Sharma for India. The combination of his T20I average of 46 and strike rate of 180 is second to none. Considering that he has done all that while batting mostly at No.4, makes him an all-time great in the format. But T20I is the keyword here. As daunting as SKY has been in T20Is, he hasn't been the same in ODIs. And Team India has made a conscious effort not to mix formats. The result was the decision to pick Shreyas Iyer over Surya in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

In the 16 ODIs that Surya has played, he has managed only two fifty-plus scores, at an average of 32 and a strike rate just above 100. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, was India's highest scorer last year in ODIs, with more impactful knocks than any other in the format.

Former India chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth, however, did not agree with the Indian think tank. He was so disappointed not to see Suryakumar's name in India's XI for the series opener in Guwahati that he decided to issue an apology to the right-hander on live TV. Not that he had any role in SKY's axing but the former India opener said he felt very bad.

INDIA VS SRI LANKA LIVE SCORE 1st ODI

"And Surya, I'm so sorry, I feel bad for you my friend. Suryakumar Yadav not there in the team? You look at the top five and ask, who are the impact players there? Who are the guys who can take the game away from the opposition?" the 1983 World Cup-winning cricketer said on Star Sports.

Srikkanth was also surprised not to see all-rounder Washington Sundar in India's XI. "I don't know why Washington Sundar is not playing. I would have picked three spinners, two pacers with Hardik Pandya as another option. That is why I keep saying that we need to develop more batting all-rounders, that is where India are missing out," he added.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who was a part of the same panel, was not bothered with Surya's ommission as much as he was with India leaving out Ishan Kishan, who had smashed the world record for smashing the fastest double century in ODI history in the last 50-over match that India played in December.

"I can understand their logic for not going Surya as all the great innings that we have seen from him have come in T20Is. Shubman Gill is getting a long run but why give the same run to Kishan? He got a double hundred. He will bring the left and right-hand combination. I am always disappointed when India don't pick Kuldeep Yadav. In 50-overs cricket, I will always have him. You saw the impact he had in Bangladesh Tests."