“A bit like an AB de Villiers”: Ricky Ponting rates Suryakumar Yadav at par with de Villiers; considers him a must in India’s T20 World Cup squad

Ricky Ponting rates Suryakumar Yadav alongside the legendary AB de Villiers considering his wide range of shots all across the the ground.

Ever since making his T20I debut for India during the home series against England last year in Ahmedabad, where he ramped the English pacer Jofra Archer for a Six on the very first ball of his innings, there has been no looking back for the right-hander.

Post the recently concluded tour of England, where he scored his maiden T20I ton at Nottingham, which was also arguably one of the finest T20 knock by an Indian off-late, Yadav again found his mention in the words of praises of fans and experts of the game.

Post the limited Overs series against West Indies, the 31-year-old even went on to reach the second spot in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings for batters, just behind the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.

Ricky Ponting rates Suryakumar Yadav at par with de Villiers

With the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia just a couple of months away from its commencement, legendary Australian skipper, during an interaction with the ICC, compared Suryakumar Yadav with the legendary Proteas batter AB de Villiers, considering his wide range of shots in all parts of the cricket field.

“Surya (Yadav) scores 360 degrees around the ground, a bit like an AB de Villiers did when he was in his actual prime. The lap shots, the late cuts, you know, the ramps over the keeper’s head. He can hit down the ground,” Ponting said.

“He hits really well over the leg side, flicks to deep backward square particularly well, and he’s a good player of fast bowling and is a good player of spin bowling,” he further added.

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“For Surya, it’s one, two or four”: Ricky Ponting

A huge part of Yadav’s reputation is mostly due to his performances in the IPL, particularly for his present franchise Mumbai Indians in the previous few seasons. Ponting, as MI coach has seen Yadav enough during his initial years with the franchise.

The former Aussie skipper, while stating Yadav as an automatic pick in the Indian squad for the imminent T20 World Cup, also picked batting positions 1,2 or 4 as ideal for him in the team, with Virat Kohli at his traditional no.3 spot.

“It’s got to be in the top four, I think. I said stick with him (Virat) in his traditional spot, which has been number three. For Surya, it’s one, two or four. I think he can open, but I think he’s probably, you know, if you could probably just keep him away from the new ball, let him control the middle part of the game outside the Powerplay, through in the middle, and if he’s in at the end, you know what can happens,” remarked Ponting.