Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was all praise for Team India batter Suryakumar Yadav, who has been very impressive in his international career so far. He expressed that innovation and skill-wise, he hasn’t seen a better player than the Indian cricketer. Suryakumar Yadav was recently named the ICC T20I Player Of The Year.
In 31 T20Is in 2022, the prolific run-scorer slammed 1164 runs at an average of 46.56, and a strike rate of 187.43. His run tally included nine fifties and two centuries. He was the leading run-scorer in T20Is in the year. Speaking on the ICC Review, Ricky Ponting expressed,
“I think innovation-wise, skill-wise, I haven’t seen a better player in the game. What it’s going to do as well, a lot of other players are going to try and do the things he’s doing and it’s going to add another level of skill to the T20 game all around the world. Someone said during the IPL this year there are going to be guys who are going to try and do exactly the same as what Surya’s doing, and that’s going to be great for the game.”
Talking about Suryakumar Yadav’s ability to play 360-degree, Ricky Ponting said,
“He’s probably doing it better than anyone’s ever done it right now. We talk about players that can score 360 degrees. Some of the shots he’s hitting back behind the wicket-keeper and over fine leg are just remarkable.”
“Five or six years ago, he started doing that a lot in the IPL. He was very good at flicking the ball over the deep-backward square and getting the ball over fine-leg. Surya’s now been able to hit short balls on the way up. He flicks short balls over the keeper’s head and they’re going for six, not just for four,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav has turned into an incredibly good player: Ricky Ponting
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting further revealed that he did not think that Suryakumar Yadav will reach the level that he has. However, he added that the right-handed batter has worked hard, and is one of the fittest players. Ponting expressed that Suryakumar Yadav has turned into an incredible player.
“I didn’t think he’d get to the level he’s got to, to be quite honest. He’s worked as hard as he has – you can probably tell by his body shape.”
“He’s probably fitter than he’s ever been, being around the Indian setup with the likes of [Virat] Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and these guys, who are exceptionally fit young guys. To have those guys leading the way for him, he’s turned into an incredibly good player,” he added.
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