'When Suryakumar Yadav Fires, He Just Makes The Game One-sided': Former Pakistan Wicketkeeper

Former Pakistan wicketkeeper batter Kamran Akmal heaped praise on swashbuckling India batter Suryakumar Yadav after his blistering batting against West Indies in the third T20I. The ICC number 1 ranked T20I batter smashed the hosts’ bowlers all around the park in Guyana to help India claim a crucial win to keep the series alive. The flamboyant batter took responsibility on himself after the openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill departed early in the tricky 160-run chase.

SKY scored boundaries at regular intervals to keep India ahead in the case. He played some exquisite ramp and sweep shots to enthral the fans.

The 32-year-old smashed 83 runs off 44 balls as India chased down the 160-run target with 13 balls to spare.

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Akmal lauded Suryakumar and suggested he is a player who can make the game one-sided on his own.

“When early wickets fell, it was still okay because the senior batters took responsibility and ensured the job was done. Suryakumar Yadav is such a player that when he fires, he just makes the game one-sided and that’s exactly what he did,” the former Pakistan wicketkeeper said on his YouTube channel.

Talking about India’s win in the third T20I, he said that India made some changes in their approach which helped them in the chase to dominate West Indies.

“There has been a marked change in batting. There has been a sense of responsibility and game awareness that ‘Hey, we are doing something wrong and we need to change it if we want to win games,” he added.

Apart from Surya, Tilak Varma (49 not out off 37) also made a valuable contribution with the bat as the duo shared a crucial 87-run stand. Tilak missed his second straight fifty in his debut series as skipper Hardik Pandya (20 not out off 15) hit the winning six.

Akmal suggested that even without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, India have a potent batting line-up which can score 200 runs in a T20I match.

“Although they don’t have star batters like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, this Indian batting line-up can still score 200 runs. They just need to show the same game awareness and ensure that the openers need to utilize the powerplay. When you plan and execute according to the conditions, everything falls into place,” he added.