Suryakumar Yadav is in blazing hot form these days and has climbed to the No.2 spot in T20I player rankings. In the first T20I between India and South Africa, the right handed batter smashed an unbeaten 50 off 33 balls as the men in blue chased down a lowly target of 107 with eight wickets in hand. The explosive batter had played a similarly attacking innings when he had smashed 69 off just 36 balls in the T20I series decider against Australia last week. Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar‘s latest exploits have empowered India’s middle order.
However, former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra has voiced his concerns about the 32-year old’s ultra-attacking approach and called his batting a ‘double-edged sword’. Nehra feels that Suryakumar’s approach of attacking from ball one and taking too many risks might cost India on a good bowling wicket like the one in 1st T20I in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Suryakumar’s batting approach is a double-edged sword. Irrespective of the scoreboard, he has set a pattern for himself. Such an approach works when the wicket is flat,” said Nehra.
“But today, on a testing surface, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli dismissed early, Suryakumar could have also departed early with the approach,” he added.
Interestingly, in the first T20I between India and South Africa, all batsmen struggled due to bowling friendly conditions where the ball was swinging but Suryakumar had it rather easy. It seemed as if the 32-year old was batting on a different surface, as he scored at a strike rate of over 150 (151.5). He came in to bat when Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma were dismissed early and India were under pressure at 17/2 in 6.1 overs. But he raced to 12 off just three balls by hitting two consecutive sixes in Anrich Nortje’s over.
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