Just a couple of days after his national snub, Mumbai Indians' Suryakumar Yavad proved why he needed to be in the list of players slated to board the flight for India's tour of Australia. Slamming a match-winning 43-ball 79 against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the 30-year-old proved his ability to deliver, especially in the shortest format of the game.
Suryakumar's omission from India's tour Down Under had raised a lot of eyebrows and many prominent names including Harbhajan Singh had expressed their disappointment through social media. Despite performing well in the domestic circuit and the IPL, the right-hander is yet to receive a national call-up.
Fans had lambasted the BCCI after Suryakumar's name was missing in the squads announced by the Sunil Joshi-led selection panel for the Australia series. Many felt that Surya, who has scored 374 runs in the on-going IPL edition, deserved a spot in India's T20I squad.
Reacting to Suryakumar's selection conundrum, India head coach Ravi Shastri said that it becomes very difficult to break in a team packed with talent and experience. After Surya's match-winning show with the bat against RCB, Shastri had also heaped praise on him on Twitter.
"That's why we say to these youngsters - be patient. Like Suryakumar there are 3-4 other players on the fringe but when you have a team that is packed with talent and experience it becomes very difficult to get in," Shastri told Times Now in an exclusive interview.
"I remember the period in my career when 1-6 in the Indian batting line-up everyone was certain of their places and it was difficult for anyone to penetrate that middle-order and yet you had some people who were scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket and knocking at the door," he added.
Shastri also passed on a message to all youngsters, insisting them to be patient and stay positive until an opportunity knocks on their door.
"For all the youngsters I have one message - be patient and when you get your opportunity grab it with both hands. That's the time you don't mess up. Instead of being disappointed be positive in your mindset that when you get the opportunity make the most of it," said Shastri.
"If you look at this team that's going if any of the players in the batting line-up had been dropped you would be asking how are they dropped," he further said.
