Exclusive: SKY is a genius and it was stupid to ignore him for so many years

Where was Suryakumar Yadav all these years? Suryakumar Yadav, or SKY as he is affectionately known to all his friends and fellow cricketers, has certainly been around a hell of a long time, smashing bowlers all over the place in Mumbai and all over India; be it in Ranji Trophy matches or Senior League Club cricket or in the IPL for Mumbai Indians.

SKY has not only been a prolific run-scorer but he has scored his runs all round the wicket at a terrific pace too.

I have been seeing him in action for a good number of years, destroying some of the best bowlers around, and I have been championing his call for National selection for a number of years now.

But most unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears. I just cannot imagine how one can ignore such brilliant talent year after year until somebody just woke up and realised SKY’s real potential by finally selecting him in the T20 squad for India.

I don’t think anyone has made a bigger impact or a major statement to the powers to be.

In Suryakumar, India have a genius and how stupid it was to ignore his selection time and again all these years.

Someone who has been ignored by the Indian selectors all these years now holds the key to India's T20 World Cup hopes as Rohit Sharma's men play England in the semifinal.

Regardless of India's result on Thursday, SKY's performances have put the people who had ignored him for so long in their place.

So what's next for SKY?

I think the next step would be to include him in the India Test XI for sure as this super batsman can win India even Test matches which may be drawn otherwise.

Now it’s just a case of 'Better Late Than Never'.

So I would love to see the name of Suryakumar Yadav in the India XI the next time India play in a Test match — home or abroad.

Farokh Engineer is a former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman

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