Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming believes Suryakumar Yadav’s T20 performance is “difficult to pinpoint a fault.” Fleming was speaking on Cricket show T20 Time:Out after Suryakumar hit his second half-century of the T20 World Cup to help India beat South Africa by 133 runs.
Suryakumar scored 68 runs off 40 balls on a bouncy Perth pitch, while the rest of India’s batsmen scored 57 runs off 80 balls. Fleming analyzed the system that allows Suryakumar to change his length and reach different parts of the field.
Former New Zealand Skipper Stephen Fleming about Suryakumar Yadav
Fleming said. “And he has a very open and aggressive stance which allows him to play a lot of unusual areas. So he’s sort of created a technique which bowlers are finding it hard to find the right lengths [against] because if they’re full he’ll hit all the way over cover or around; if they’re fractionally short he’ll go over third man and point.
“And he’s quite adept with the short ball on anything straight.” So he devised a strategy that makes it extremely difficult to identify a point of vulnerability. On the same broadcast, former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis commented on Suryakumar’s playing, praising his patience and ability to judge when to take prudent chances. “His skill set is so diverse that as a bowler, you don’t feel like you can limit him to specific areas.” “He has all the various shots and scores in all the different areas,” said du Plessis. “What strikes me most about him is his calm demeanor. I hardly never see a guy with that many shots be agitated and seem hurried. He simply has this air of tranquility about him.
“He knows when to pull the trigger and when to shift gears, but he always seems calm. He’s a terrific T20 player to watch. He’s the perfect example of how, as a youngster, you go through different gears at various points in the game.”