Legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has called Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav a trailblazer who could inspire a new breed of players to emulate his playing style and take T20 cricket to “another level” worldwide. Suryakumar, 32, was recently named the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year after becoming only the second batsman in the world to score more than 1000 runs in a calendar year in the game’s shortest form.
Surya scored two centuries and nine half tons en route to 1,164 runs in 2022, only second behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan who leads the charts with 1,326 runs in 2021.
“I think in terms of innovation, in terms of skills, I haven’t seen a better player (than Suryakumar) in the game,” Ponting told ICC on Friday.
“Whatever it’s going to do, a lot of other players are going to try to do the things he’s doing and it’s going to add another level of skill to the T20 game around the world.
“Someone said at the IPL this year (2022) that there will be guys who will try to do exactly what Surya is doing and that will be great for the game,” the Australian great added.
Surya’s over 1,100 runs last year came in 31 T20Is with an amazing strike rate of 187.43 and an average of 46.56 which also propelled him to the top of the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.
Ponting also called the Indian cricketer the greatest innovator in the shortest version, comparing his batting style to South African white-ball specialist AB de Villiers and former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.
“He’s probably doing better than anyone ever. We’re talking about players who can score 360 degrees… some of the shots he hits back behind the wicketkeeper and over the fine leg are just remarkable.” Ponting said he noticed Surya’s innate talent a few years ago in the IPL where he made it so easy to tap the ball across a deep backward square.
The former skipper added that the batsman has taken his stroke play to another level, playing some really daring strokes, such as throwing short balls for sixes over the wicket-keeper’s head.
“Five or six years ago he started doing that (innovation) a lot in the IPL. He was very good at shooting the ball over a deep back square and getting the ball over a fine leg,” Ponting said.
“Surya is now able to hit short balls on his way up and shoot short balls over the keeper’s head and they are going for six, not just four.” Ponting said he initially thought Suryakumar would never reach such heights, but his work ethic and strenuous regimen have resulted in his success.
The cricketer scored the third most points at the T20 World Cup — 239 — in Australia, behind only Virat Kohli (296) and Dutchman Max O’Dowd (242).
He then continued the good work in the T20I series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka to climb to the second highest T20 batting score ever recorded – 908 runs.
“To be honest, I didn’t think he would reach the level he is at now,” said Ponting.
“He’s worked as hard as he’s done – you can probably tell by his body shape. He’s probably fitter than ever because he’s around the Indian set up with the likes of Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and these guys who are exceptionally fit young.” guys.”
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