I could see shades of Kapil Dev in him – Former Mumbai coach hails Suryakumar Yadav

Former Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni has showered praise on Suryakumar Yadav. Kulkarni revealed that he sees shades of former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev in SKY. The right-hander has been in dream form in the T20I format as he is ticking the right boxes.

The 32-year-old has scored 1675 runs in 48 T20I at an impressive average of 46.53 and a blistering strike rate of 175.76. Ergo, SKY has been at his absolute best in the shortest format of the game.

Meanwhile, in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who has been ruled out of the first Test match against Australia due to a back injury, SKY is in line to make his debut against the visitors.

“I remember Dilip Vengsarkar first telling me about Suryakumar,” Kulkarni told The Playfield Magazine. “He used to play for Dadar Union Sports Club initially. I had seen him bat in a U22 match for Mumbai. So when I became the Mumbai coach in 2011, the first thing I told the team management was that Suryakumar will be my free bird. He can play the way he wants and no one will say anything to him.”

Kulkarni added that he wanted Yadav to continue his aggressive style of batting and gave him the license to play his natural game.

“I gave him the license to play his natural game because I could see shades of Kapil Dev in him,” he added. “There was no better player to watch than Kapil when in full flow. Surya had an attacking game and I wanted him to continue playing that way. I always believe that every team must have a free bird who can change the complexion of the game. And for me in that team, Surya was that player.”

SKY has been super consistent in the T20I format despite playing a high-risk game. Kulkarni lauded the right-hander for coming up with consistent performances for the national team. Yadav has already scored three T20I centuries in his young career.

“That’s the beauty of Suryakumar’s batting,” he continued. “The centuries scored in T20s are mostly by openers. So it is very rare for a middle-order batsman to achieve it in this format. The consistency with which he is scoring those centuries is incredible. One knew the sky would be the limit if he mastered those strokes because you cannot set any field for shots that he plays.”

SKY could be part of India’s playing XI for the first Test match against Australia, beginning on Thursday in Nagpur.