England’s batting coach Michael Hussey is hopeful that Suryakumar Yadav doesn’t get a big score against them in the all-important semifinal of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Thursday at Adelaide Oval. SKY has returned with scores of 15, 51, 68, 30, and 61 in the five innings of the T20I showpiece.
The 32-year-old has scored 225 runs in five matches at an average of 75 and a whirlwind strike rate of 193.97, including three half-centuries. The right-hander has batted at the top of his game and he has obliterated the opposition’s bowling with his amazing strokeplay.
The Mumbai batter is batting out of this world and he is consistently delivering the goods for the team while batting at number four.
Furthermore, earlier in the year, SKY had scored a blistering knock of 117 runs against England while playing in the English conditions in the third T20I of the series.
Speaking to Sportstar, Michael Hussey said, “He’s been sensational and has been doing it for a number of years in the IPL. And now to do it consistently at the highest level, it’s great to watch. Personally, love watching him bat. Obviously, I hope he doesn’t get a big score against England on Thursday (laughs). But India are a fantastic team, and we knew that coming into the tournament.”
“We have to be very close to our best to really challenge them and win the match. It’s going to be a great spectacle — two fantastic teams and they’ll both be going as hard as they possibly can. It’s the World Cup semifinal, and that prize to make it to the final at the MCG is pretty motivating.”
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma hasn’t been able to get going in the World Cup except for the match against the Netherlands. However, Hussey believes the big players always step up in big matches.
“You’ve Rohit Sharma, you’ve Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes. They seem to perform when the team needs it most. It’s a special quality that these players have. And we have certainly seen that with Virat for a number of years. We’ve seen it with Rohit Sharma over the years as well. And we’ve seen it with Ben Stokes.
Ben Stokes had provided the finishing touches for England against Sri Lanka as he scored an unbeaten knock of 42 runs off 36 balls.
“It’s almost like they crave the real pressure situations or it’s just that they just crave those big moments in games and they thrive on that.”
He added: “We saw with Ben Stokes the other night against Sri Lanka. The team was in a bit of trouble and he sort of coolly worked his way through. We saw Kohli’s innings against Pakistan at the start of the tournament. That was unbelievable to watch. And for Rohit, you’re always waiting for the time that he’s going to play that sort of special innings as well. Let’s hope, it’s not on Thursday, but we know how good he is (laughs).”
Rohit Sharma has all the experience under his belt and he would want to deliver in the all-important match against England.
