Dubai, 20 Sept

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar backed skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s decision to promote his teammates and not come out to bat himself in India’s inconsequential group match against Oman.

With India having already sealed a Super Four berth after wins over UAE and Pakistan, Suryakumar reshuffled the batting order to give the lower-order more game time, even pushing himself down to No 11.

India posted 188 for eight and went on to beat Oman by 12 runs.

"If he had batted for even one over, he could have hit a few fours and sixes, and that would have been good for him. But the way he batted against Pakistan, maybe he does not need batting practice," Gavaskar said in a conversation with former India pacer Irfan Pathan on Sony Sports.

"He may have thought that Kuldeep Yadav's batting could come in handy if India loses quick wickets in one of the matches. Perhaps that's why he may have sent Kuldeep in to bat."

Gavaskar praised Suryakumar for his out-of-the-box thinking.

"He is a very unorthodox thinker. We saw in Sri Lanka that he himself bowled and also gave Rinku Singh the ball. He turned the game, which seemed to have slipped away, on its head and won India the match.

"He is an innovative thinker. Maybe that's why he did not bat and sent in Kuldeep and Arshdeep Singh," the 76-year-old added.