South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell heaped praise on Suryakumar Yadav for his 360-degree hitting ability and hailed the Indian batter as one of the most feared and best T20 batters at the moment.
The right-hander played a brilliant knock of 50* off 33 balls to help India beat South Africa by 8 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series. Ahead of the second T20I in Guwahati on October 2, Parnell stressed that the bowlers will have to stay strong and focused while bowling against Surya.
Wayne Parnell said on the eve of the second T20I on Sunday: “Personally, from what I've watched in the last couple of months, I think he's probably the best T20 batter at the moment. He scores 360-degree, which is very difficult for bowlers to defend.”
The star all-rounder continued, “It's about being strong and focused on each ball. He's allowed to play good shots, but the other day he was lucky as well. He's certainly a guy whom I enjoyed watching the last couple of months. He's certainly playing good cricket.”
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Parnell also insisted that there's no need to panic with the massive defeat in the first T20I at Thiruvananthapuram. He added, “It's just one of those things. It wasn't a good T20 wicket and they bowled really well, but our batters have been world-class in the last couple of years so there's nothing to panic about.”
On South Africa’s dismal batting show in the first T20I where they lost five wickets for just 9 runs, the all-rounder noted, “It's a bit of a Catch-22 situation really. Certainly, experience tells you that new ball does swing so you have to have a look at the first one-two overs. We have to credit the Indian seamers who bowled really well. We will have to define ways to counter that in the second game.”
Speaking about South Africa’s T20 World Cup 2022 preparation, Parnell said: “It's been very good over the last few months. We were here in June, then went on a UK tour, coming back here again before going to Australia. Everyone is in really good spirits and looking forward to next couple of T20Is and the ODIs as well.”
He signed off by saying on the competition for a place in the team, “Competition is good for the spots. Every single fast bowlers is different and has different skill sets. It's a positive sign for us. It also means that when we are presented with any particular condition, we can play a certain set of fast bowlers so I think personally having the variety that we have is really exciting.”
(With PTI Inputs)
