Published: Mar 20, 2021, 02:56 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 20, 2021, 02:56 PM (IST)
Former India batsman VVS Laxman heaped huge praise on Suryakumar Yadav after his match-winning knock in the fourth T20I against England. Surya slammed 57 runs in his first innings of international cricket and was also named Man of the Match as India clinched the game by 8 runs.
Laxman talked about Suryakumar’s mindset and said when a player trie to complicate things then he forgets his strengths at times.
“Spectacular, he astonished both me and Jofra Archer. His mindset is praiseworthy. He even told Murali Kartik that he wanted to keep it simple. If you complicate things too much, you forget at times what your strengths are and what is your template of scoring runs,” Laxman told Star Sports Network.
Suryakumar, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the playing XI, was promoted to bat at no 3 over skipper Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Surya became the fifth Indian to score a 50 plus score on the first T20I innings as the other batters on the list are Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa.
“The timing we saw today, the way he placed the ball and the manner in which he was coming behind the line of the ball while playing the pacers and playing creative shots according to the field.
Laxman further hailed Surya’s ability to play spin bowling with ease and called him a match-winner.
“When the spinners came, (he played) fantastic shots. My favourite was the maximum he hit over extra-cover against Adil Rashid.
“He can play the sweep as well, so he is an all-round player and because of that, his strike rate is always high, and he is a match-winner,” Laxman added.
On Friday, Surya also received his maiden India call-up in One Day International against England. The three-match ODI series will start on March 23.
While India and England will clash in the T20I series decider on March 20 at Narendra Modi Stadium with the series currently leveled at 2-2.
