With India having a plethora of options in the middle order in the 50-over format with KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer among others in the mix, it might look like SKY’s ODI career was on its way to winding down, especially after he scored just 106 runs in the entirety of the 2023 ODI World Cup. “If it hurts, it’s only because I have not done well so someone who has done really well deserves to be there,” Surya said.

But you never say never in case of Indian cricket and especially in the case of a batsman like Suryakumar, who made his India T20I debut in 2021 when he was 30 years of age and introduced himself on the international stage with an outrageous ‘calypso’ six off Jofra Archer.

He would go from strength to strength in the shortest format leading India’s charge in the 2022 T20 World Cup where he was the highest scorer with 239 runs and even became the No.1 ranked T20I batter. Surya was also instrumental in helping India win the T20 World Cup scoring 199 runs and taking a superhuman catch of David Miller which will live long in the annals of India’s cricketing history.

But what remains as an enigma to everyone is how a batsman known for scoring tons of runs in T20Is, can’t seem to find his footing when it comes to ODIs. To put his contrasting forms in context in the limited over formats, you just need to look at his century stats. SKY has scored 4 100s in the T20Is, a format where it is pretty difficult to score centuries, but has no tons in the 50-over matches.

This might be down to India’s playing order in ODIs where due to a wide array of options, SKY has been usually deployed at the No.6 position, especially during the 2023 World Cup which is way down from the No.4 spot that he usually occupies in T20Is. Coming further down the order in high pressure situations in ODIs, Surya had less number of balls to make an impact which in turn perhaps stifled his free-flowing style.

However, all is not lost for Surya when it comes to ODIs with the Indian team set to go into transition after the Champions Trophy. This makes the 5 T20Is against England highly important for the SKY as exceptional performances in this series can once again catapult him to the ODI scheme of things.

With an 76.47-win percentage as the T20I skipper, India have not lost a bilateral series under SKY who has 13 wins in 17 matches leading the outfit. He has also successfully imprinted his hell for leather mindset in the current T20 side where batters like Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma come out all guns blazing from the word go, a drastic change from the cautious approach the Men in Blue have shown in the days of yore.

Such has been their domination under Surya that in the last T20I series against South Africa in 2024, India scored 200+ scores thrice in 4 matches with Samson, flourishing in his role as an opener, and Varma scoring two centuries apiece in the series.

The Indian fans will be hoping for more of that when Surya’s side meets England on Wednesday with head coach Gautam Gambhir returning to his familiar hunting ground, desperate to wipe off the bad memories of the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy debacle.