Will India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav be able to return to ODIs?

A few days after India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav reached out to AB de Villiers for guidance on reviving his ODI career, the former South African great has responded. Suryakumar, who last played a 50-over match in the 2023 World Cup final, has since featured only in T20Is. Recently, he publicly requested De Villiers’ advice on how to rediscover his ODI rhythm — a call that the Proteas legend has now answered positively.

In a video on his YouTube channel, De Villiers confirmed that he intends to respond to Suryakumar’s appeal, adding that he too has a few questions for the Indian batter. He acknowledged SKY’s ambition to succeed across formats and said he plans to do his “homework” before offering detailed guidance.

“I have a lot of questions for him as well,” De Villiers said. “I’ll start preparing for his questions. Regarding balancing formats, I’m not sure — but he clearly has big hopes of playing Test cricket too. I know he won’t throw that away. As for finding consistency between ODIs and T20s, I’ll study the matter and give SKY a proper answer.”

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Earlier, in an interview with journalist Vimal Kumar, Suryakumar revealed that he had never had a long conversation with De Villiers but wished to learn from him. He said that if they met soon, he would ask the South African great how he managed to balance his performances across T20Is and ODIs.

Suryakumar, who admires De Villiers for excelling in all formats, emphasized that the next few years are crucial for his own career and urged the retired cricketer to connect with him soon.

“If I get the chance to meet AB, I’ll ask him how he balanced his T20 and ODI game,” SKY said. “I haven’t been able to do that — I used to think ODIs should be played like T20s. I want to know what helped him succeed in both formats. AB, if you’re listening, please get in touch quickly — the next three to four years are very important for me. I’m eager to play ODIs again. Please help me!”