Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has showered praise on Suryakumar Yadav for scoring his runs at a brisk pace. As SKY mostly strikes over 170, he takes a lot of pressure off India’s top three – KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli.
India found themselves in a tricky situation at 84-2 against the Netherlands after 12 overs. Quick runs were the need of the hour and SKY was once again able to hit the ground running. The right-hander scored 51 runs off just 25 balls as he played at the top of his game.
It is well known that the 32-year-old can get quick runs from the get-go as he scores all around the ground. Yadav has scored almost 1000 T20I runs in the calendar year and he has a strike rate of 177.48 in the shortest format of the game.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had failed to hit the top gear against the Netherlands and thus SKY’s knock was a crucial one for the team to help them post a par score of 179 runs on the board. The Mumbai batter added a fine alliance of 95 runs off just 48 balls with Virat Kohli for the third wicket.
“At No.4, he doesn’t(often) get the luxury of batting in the first six overs, still being able to score close to 1000 runs at that strike rate. He has taken a lot of pressure off, whether it is Virat Kohli that he is batting alongside, Rohit Sharma, or for that matter, even KL Rahul. Whenever he has batted, he has been the aggressor,” Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“He is the one who is taking a lot of pressure off the top three and that’s the reason why India has been able to get to 180 runs (179) today,” Gambhir added.
Suryakumar Yadav has been in the form of his life and everything he touches turns to gold. In 25 T20I matches played in 2022, the right-hander has amassed 867 runs at an average of 41.28 and a whirlwind strike rate of 184.86.
SKY has been consistently providing the much-needed impetus to the team in the T20I format. The right-hander will look to make the most of his good form and keep delivering for the team.
