‘Suryakumar Yadav is special and very dangerous’: Sachin Tendulkar showers praise on Mumbai Indians batsman

Suryakumar Yadav: The batsman from Mumbai Indians registered his eighth half-century in the Indian Premier League.

During the 20th match of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav registered his eighth IPL half-century to power his team to 193-4 in 20 overs.

After Indians captain Rohit Sharma (35) won the toss and chose to bat, MI got off to a brisk start on the back of scoring 57/1 in the powerplay.

Yadav, who came in to bat at No. 3 in the fifth over upon the dismissal of wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock (23), took the onus upon himself when Sharma and Ishan Kishan (0) were dismissed by Rajasthan Royals spinner Shreyas Gopal on successive deliveries.

Yadav displayed first signs of aggression against Rajasthan debutant Kartik Tyagi after hitting him for three boundaries in the ninth over. In the 12th over, Yadav took on Gopal to hit a couple of fours.

While Mumbai all-rounder Krunal Pandya 17-ball 12 hurt them in the middle overs, an unbeaten 76-run partnership between Yadav and Hardik Pandya (30*) brought their team back on track in the business end.

Sachin Tendulkar showers praise on Suryakumar Yadav

It was on the first delivery of the 16th over when Yadav hit a boundary off Royals pacer Tom Curran to complete his 16th T20 half-century.

Yadav particularly impressed one and all with his sturdiness in the penultimate over against RR spearhead Jofra Archer. After getting hit on the helmet by a nasty boundary, the right-hand batsman underwent a concussion test.

On the following delivery, the 30-year old sort of reverse ramped Archer for an unbelievable six over the wicket-keeper’s head to become a source of amazement.

“Suryakumar Yadav for India…”

Apart from Tendulkar, Yadav also earned applause from veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh and former Indian cricketers like Irfan Pathan, Aakash Chopra and Rudra Pratap Singh. While Harbhajan has been vocal about Yadav having it in him to represent India in T20Is, the likes of Pathan, Chopra and Singh have added weight to the discussion.

In the last season of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Yadav was the third highest run-scorer with his 392 runs in 11 T20s coming at an average and strike rate of 56 and 168.96 respectively including four half-centuries.

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