India’s T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav has received a lot of praise from all active and ex-cricketers for his batting exploits. Australia great Tom Moody has also jumped in to compliment the world’s no. 1 T20I batter and hailed him as Sir Vivian Richards.
In India’s series-clinching victory against Sri Lanka, Suryakumar smashed a brilliant ton in the final T20I of three match-series. He became only the second Indian after Rohit Sharma to score three or more centuries in the shortest format and the fifth overall cricketer to achieve the feat.
Notably, Surya scored his first and second centuries in T20Is against England and New Zealand, respectively.
Suryakumar was appointed as the vice-captain of Team India before the T20I series against Sri Lanka, and he has retained the position for the upcoming New Zealand series. The right-handed batter is also part of India’s ODI team and got his maiden Test call-up for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
SKY made his debut for India in 2021 and has played 16 ODIs and 45 T20Is so far. He was the leading run scorer in the shortest format in 2022, with 1164 runs to his name in 31 innings. The 32-year-old was also the third-highest run-getter at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
In an interview to Sports Tak, talking about his favourite T20I batter, Moody named Suryakumar as his choice.
“Suryakumar Yadav. Just the way he plays, it’s breathtaking. It reminds me so much of… when I was a young cricketer, watching the likes of Vivian Richards. The player who just seems to be in control of the game single-handedly,” said Moody.
The 57-year-old has also been part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
