Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has opined that Suryakumar Yadav has nothing left to prove in T20Is. SKY returned to form as he scored an unbeaten knock of 82 runs off just 37 balls in the second T20I against New Zealand with the help of nine fours and four sixes.
India was chasing a par score of 209 runs and SKY played an instrumental role in the run-chase. The Indian skipper backed it with another impressive knock of 57 runs off 26 balls in the third ODI at Guwahati on Sunday.
Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube Channel, “The point is, he doesn’t have anything to prove. If someone asks whether Suryakumar isn’t a T20 player or is out of form, brother, he has already done everything. He is a phenomenal batter. So there was discussion about why he wasn’t coming in to bat earlier, because batting would help him get into form.”
“I believe Suryakumar Yadav becomes a dangerous batter when he comes in to bat during the powerplay. All the centuries he has scored in his career have come when he has batted up the order, whether it was in England or New Zealand. Although in this match two wickets fell early, so he had to come in earlier than planned, his actual plan is to bat at number four and delay himself. You might remember that that match, I think it was against Sri Lanka, or whoever it was against, he didn’t even come in to bat. We mentioned it then, brother, that he is such a big batter. Yes, the runs weren’t coming, but he is a proven player,” he added.
The former UP batter urged the Indian skipper to bat up the order in T20Is in order to get the best out of himself.
“In this match, since the chase was over 200 and two wickets fell early, he was forced to come in. But I feel that whenever possible, Suryakumar Yadav should bat up the order. When he gets 18 to 19 overs, or even 17 overs, and starts in the powerplay, when fours and quick runs come, he gets into a flow. The more he delays, the more it happens that you won’t get into form just by sitting outside.”
“So I believe that whenever there’s an opportunity, Suryakumar should send himself up the order. And there was no doubt about him. No one said that Suryakumar should be dropped or that there were question marks over him,” he added.
SKY would look to carry his good form into the T20 World Cup.
