“Putting no price on his wicket” - Ravi Ashwin backs under-performing Suryakumar Yadav ahead of Asia Cup 2025 Final

Former Indian spinner and analyst Ravi Ashwin has backed the Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav despite his string of failures with the willow as a captain. His comments came right before the Asia Cup 2025 final between India and Pakistan on Sunday, September 28, in Dubai.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin asserted that Suryakumar Yadav has been playing a high-risk game, which is extremely amazing to watch, adding that he doesn’t want him to average around 40 with the willow.

"Regarding Suryakumar, people say his average dropped after captaincy. But with that, a new brand of cricket started. I don't want him to be averaging 40. Always in T20 cricket we sink thinking about this average. Surya as a captain is playing a high-risk game which is extremely amazing," Ashwin said.

Furthermore, Ashwin stated that Suryakumar is currently following Rohit Sharma’s footsteps of always committing to aggression without putting any price to his wicket in the shortest format of the game.

"Rohit showed this, putting no price on his wicket, always committing to aggression. Surya's following this, coming in at different slots, not always at three," he added.

"If Surya averages 25 but strikes at 170, I'm much happier with that than him doing 40 at a lower strike rate. Don't get after him for this, don't put pressure. T20 cricket needs impact, not average," Ashwin added.

For the unversed, SKY has an average of 12.37 and a strike rate of 110 in the ongoing calendar year, scoring only 99 runs in 10 innings. In the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 campaign, SKY could score only 71 runs from five innings at an average of 23.66, with the highest score of an unbeaten 47-run knock.

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