Archive photo of AB de Villiers© AFP
The worship for Suryakumar Yadav has not stopped coming this T20 World Cup. There are plenty of reasons behind it. In a team dotted with superstars, Suryakumar shone with his daring shots. He set the podium ablaze with 225 runs from five games, including three 1950s with a staggering 193.96 pass rate. Due to his ability to make improbable shots, pundits and fans have compared him to South African batter AB de Villiers. However, Surya recently said that there can only be one ‘Mr 360’.
Now Ab de Villiers comes up with a hilarious response to Suryakumar being labeled the new ‘Mr 360’. “He’s the new 360, but I’m still the original. Don’t take that nickname off me. I’m very happy for the man. He has a lot of potential,” said De Villiers in a video.
I think he saw Twitter comparison between him and Surya pic.twitter.com/wI5m3Rj0Jg
— SUPRVIRAT (@ishantraj51) Nov 9, 2022
Suryakumar’s performance in recent competitions has led him to take the No. 1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings. In 28 T20I innings this year, Suryakumar scored 1,026 runs at an average of 44.60. A century and nine half centuries have come from his bat, with the best score of 117. These runs have come with a strike rate of 186.24. Suryakumar is the first Indian and only the second player in T20I history to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year. His performance will be closely watched when India faces England in the semi-final on Thursday.
During a recent interaction with PTI news agency, when asked if it’s the right time to compare Suryakumar to him, de Villiers, one of the most versatile hitters in the game, said: “Yeah, they are. He will have to focus on his consistency. He will have to do this for 5 to 10 years and then he will find himself in the golden books of cricketers.”
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