New Zealand veteran fast bowler Tim Southee showered praise on Suryakumar Yadav after the right-hander played a blistering knock of 111 runs off just 51 balls at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on Sunday in the second T20I.
Southee admitted that the whirlwind knock was miles apart from anything they have seen. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson had also admitted that SKY’s knock was one of the best he has ever seen while former Kiwis T20I batter Ross Taylor feels it was the best T20I innings he has seen on the New Zealand shores.
SKY batted at his absolute best as he completed his second T20I hundred off just 49 balls. The 32-year-old smashed 11 fours and seven sixes in his majestic knock as he scored his runs at a strike rate of 217.65. In fact, the rest of the Indian batters scored their runs at a strike rate of 100.
SKY’s unbelievable knock helped India in posting an above-par score of 191 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Kane Williamson.
Tim Southee said in the post-match press conference, “Anytime a T20 player gets a hundred in a match, it’s quite often the difference. You look at the rest of the side and the way we sort of batted, his innings was miles apart from anything else we saw today. Probably made them get to a score that was probably a little bit more than what we were hoping for.
“It was an exceptional innings and it was the difference between restricting India to 175-180 and then getting above 190.”
Southee continued to shower praise on Suryakumar Yadav and said that the Indian batter has been in amazing form in the last 12 months.
“He’s a player that can hit you and hurt you in a number of areas. He’s had a great 12-18 months in IPL, international cricket. Came up against a pretty impressive knock today. The guys will reassess and come up with something for Napier. Sky’s had a great 12 months.
“It’s there for him to continue to do so and continue to play the way he has. But you look at guys that have played for a long period of time and achieved so much over a long period of time. India has always produced amazing cricketers not only in T20 cricket but across all three formats.”
India will take on New Zealand in the third T20I on Tuesday.
