Former Indian batter Ajay Jadeja reckons Suryakumar Yadav has been given his due after the right-hander became the 304th Test cricketer for India. SKY was given his Test cap by former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri at the VCA, Nagpur on Thursday before the start of the first match against Australia.

SKY has been in rollicking form in the T20I format in the recent past and one felt he has done enough to deserve his place.

The 32-year-old has scored 1675 runs in 48 T20I at an impressive average of 46.53 and a blistering strike rate of 175.76. Ergo, SKY has been at his absolute best in the shortest format of the game. Furthermore, SKY has amassed 5549 runs in 79 first-class matches at an average of 44.75.

In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, the team management and the selectors had to toss up between SKY and Shubman Gill and they decided to go with the former.

“It is a tough one. Suryakumar Yadav is more fun to watch. But from the point of view of Indian cricket, both of them were picked in the squad based on form. It is a very difficult call. But it seems like the Indian team has given the chance to players who have toiled a lot in domestic cricket, be it for KS Bharat or be it for Suryakumar Yadav. Indian team has given players their due,” Jadeja explained the selection call on Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, Australia was skittled out for 177 runs after Pat Cummins decided to bat first. Ravindra Jadeja, who was making his comeback to International cricket after a long break of five months, was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he returned with figures of 5-47.

In response, India ended the day’s 1 proceedings at 77-1, with Rohit Sharma scoring his 15th Test fifty. Thus, the home team trailed by only 100 runs on stumps on the opening day.