Former England captain Michael Atherton admitted that India’s Suryakumar Yadav has been very consistent in the ongoing T20 World Cup but he might have a bad day at the office against the English team given the fact he plays high-risk shots.
The Mumbai batter has scored 225 runs in five matches of the T20I showpiece at an average of 75 and a strike rate of 193.97. SKY has been successful in hitting the ground running and he has performed consistently in the T20I World Cup.
The right-hander has scored three half-centuries in the ongoing marquee event and he is once again going to hold the key for the Indian team in the all-important semi-final against England. Furthermore, Yadav had scored a magnum opus knock of 117 runs in the third T20I against England in English conditions.
SKY is currently the number one batter in the ICC T20I rankings and he has gathered more than 1000 T20I runs in 2022.
Michael Atherton told Sky Sports Cricket: “His average of 42 and strike rate of 180 puts him leagues ahead of someone else. But, to play with that consistency at that tempo, you’re going to fail occasionally. I know he has been very consistent, but he may just have a bad day.”
Meanwhile, it is known that stadiums in Australia have big boundaries, which are almost 80-meters. However, Adelaide Oval has short square boundaries and Atherton feels SKY can exploit that given his style of batting.
“Adelaide has got short square boundaries and SKY’s strength is either slicing it behind point or flipping it behind square. So, you would think that the ground would play to his strengths.”
Atherton continued:
“Suryakumar Yadav is rightly the number one-ranked T20 cricket batter in the world right now. There are more established names there like Kohli, Rohit and KL Rahul, but I reckon he is the one that the England bowlers will be thinking the most about ahead of the game.”
There is no doubt SKY is going to hold the key for India as he is in prime form.
