Ricky Ponting lavishes praise on Suryakumar Yadav and compares him to South Africa’s AB De Villiers

Suryakumar Yadav’s case is quite unique in the scheme of things in Indian cricket. After years of knocking on the door with his consistent performances in domestic cricket as well as the Indian Premier League, when opportunities still did not come his way, he went on to break down the door and force himself into the Indian cricket team.

Facing his first ball in international cricket with Jofra Archer charging towards him at full steam, the middle-order batter, with a gentle swivel of the hips, pulled his short ball for an audacious six and signalled his arrival in style!

Since then, Suryakumar has hardly looked back and every innings has been an indication of the fact that it seems like he has always belonged at this level. 23 matches into his T20I career, Surya proudly sits at Number 2 in the ICC T20I Men’s batting rankings and has the highest strike rate of 175.45 for any player who has batted as many times as him in the history of T20I cricket among the full member nations.

With the upcoming T20 World Cup to be held in Australia, the legendary Ricky Ponting believes that Suryakumar Yadav should be locked into the middle-order and he will thrive in that position. Ponting has not only viewed his skills and obvious talents from a distance, but had also witnessed him up close during his formative years with Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

“He’s a very, very exciting player and I’m sure someone that’s going to find himself in their team, not just their squad,” Ponting said on the latest episode of The ICC Review.

“I think you’d find him in their team for the T20 World Cup. And if he’s in that team, then I think all the fans in Australia are going to see a very, very good player. Surya (Yadav) scores 360 degrees around the ground, a bit like an AB de Villiers did when he was in his actual prime. The lap shots, the late cuts, you know, the ramps over the keeper’s head. He can hit down the ground,” he further added.

Asked whether he should be included in India’s starting XI during the World Cup, Ponting was adamant that the automatically picked himself given that he has been the best batter for the side over the last few series.

The former World Cup winner also believes that the number 4 slot is the best position for Suryakumar to bat at given that his strike rate shoots up to 258.82 in the death overs in T20Is.