Former Indian wicketkeeper Parthivi patel complimented Suryakumar Yadav’s match-winning 76 innings against the West Indies in the third T20I on Tuesday, August 2.
The 31-year-old had some fantastic shots and completely manipulated both the field and the bowlers. Patel compared Yadav’s ability to play on the pitch to that of former South African legend AB de Villiers.
Suryakumar Yadav is a difficult batter to cast – Parthiv Patel
When they both played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the former wicketkeeper shared a dressing room with De Villiers (RCB). Patel revealed to Cricbuzz after the game how Yadav’s approach is similar to that of De Villiers. He claimed:
“He (Yadav) executes it better than anyone. In T20 cricket you have to take your chances and you can only take them if you have the kind of confidence in your skills that Suryakumar Yadav has. “Whatever you throw, I play by the court, not the bowler.” This is comparable to what AB de Villiers used to do. He always looks at the ball and gets into positions very early.”
Patel believes that Suryakumar Yadav has the unique ability to hit the identical ball to two different locations on the ground. He believes that when this happens, bowlers run out of solutions and are dominated if they are not accurate.
“I have a theory that if a player can hit you over a nice leg and also over long off and covers, he is the hardest batter to bowl against. When a batter has a strong leg-side play and can hit you over a fine leg or mid-wicket, bowl to him outside. But if he then hits or covers you halfway, then the margin of error is zero. “You can’t go wrong with the length and it should be from stump to stump. So that’s the kind of batter Suryakumar Yadav is.”
Surya would hope to carry the same form throughout the rest of the series.
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