Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra showered rich praise on Suryakumar Yadav for his remarkable performance in limited-overs cricket, especially T20I cricket, for the past two years.
Suryakumar was recently named ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2022 for his phenomenal yet consistent batting show, and on the back of his form, the right-hander earned his maiden call-up to the Test team for the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
However, the Mumbai batter is yet to replicate his T20I success in the ODIs, as he has only 433 runs in his 18 outings in ODIs so far, but Nehra hopes that Suryakumar will replicate his T20I form in the 50-over format and Test cricket as well because he has the ability to do so.
Ashish Nehra said in a video posted by ICC: “Let's hope that he shows this form across formats because he certainly has the capability. He has played a few one-day games, but if he continues to perform at the level he is, it will naturally form a place for him in the XI.”
He added, “So if players are pushed to their limit with such performances, either they have to raise the bar or Suryakumar is always there to take place. It is not surprising at all. This is such a Surya that has shone consistently if you talk about the past year or two. Hopefully, he can carry this on because the kind of consistency that he has shown at such a high strike rate has been sensational.”
The former pacer also said that Suryakumar has left many big hitters of the game behind with his performances in the T20I cricket while lauding the batter for winning the T20I Cricketer of the Year award.
Nehra signed off by saying, “His confidence is at an all-time high and this is a fantastic achievement for any player because of how competitive T20 cricket is and yet Suryakumar has left behind so many big hitters in the game.”
