India’s Suryakumar Yadav was named the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2022 thanks to his haul of 1164 runs in the format last year in 31 games. He averaged 46.56 and had a strike rate of 187.43 with two centuries to his name as well.
This had propelled the right-handed Indian batter to the no.1 spot in the ICC T20I batting rankings as well.
And when comparing Yadav’s batting style to the likes of white-ball pioneers AB De Villiers and Adam Gilchrist, Ponting heaped praise on the late-bloomer.
“He’s probably doing it better than anyone’s ever done it right now. We talk about players that can score 360 degrees … some of the shots he’s hitting back behind the wicket-keeper and over fine leg are just remarkable.
Ashish Nehra says Suryakumar Yadav has ability to dominate all three formats of the game
Five or six years ago, he started doing that a lot in the IPL. He was very good at flicking the ball over deep-backward square and getting the ball over fine-leg. Surya’s now been able to hit short balls on the way up and flick short balls over the keeper’s head and they’re going for six, not just for four,” Ponting said on ICC Review.
Ponting also praised the skills and innovations that Suryakumar Yadav has brought into T20Is and leading and emerging batters mirrored the daring strokes that Yadav pioneered during the T20 World Cup 2022.
“I think innovation-wise, skill-wise, I haven’t seen a better player in the game. What it’s going to do as well, a lot of other players are going to try and do the things he’s doing and it’s going to add another level of skill to the T20 game all around the world.
Someone said during the IPL this year there are going to be guys who are going to try and do exactly the same as what Surya’s doing, and that’s going to be great for the game,” Ponting added.
Yadav scored the third-most runs at the T20 World Cup with 239, only behind teammate Virat Kohli (296) and the Netherlands’ Max O’Dowd (242). Combine that with his heroics in bilateral T20Is against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, Suryakumar climbed to the second-highest T20 batting rating ever recorded (908 points).
He is now in the vicinity of the all-time record of 915 points set by England’s Dawid Malan in November 2020.
“I didn’t think he’d get to the level he’s got to, to be quite honest. He’s worked as hard as he has – you can probably tell by his body shape. He’s probably fitter than he’s ever been, being around the Indian setup with the likes of [Virat] Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and these guys, who are exceptionally fit young guys. To have those guys leading the way for him, he’s turned into an incredibly good player,” Ponting said.
Suryakumar Yadav will be seen in action in the T20I series against New Zealand starting January 27.
(ICC inputs)
