"He plays like AB de Villiers" - Moeen Ali says Suryakumar Yadav is currently the best T20 player
England all-rounder Moeen Ali feels Suryakumar Yadav plays like former South African skipper AB de Villiers and is the best T20 batter at the moment.
Suryakumar has smashed 1408 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 180.97 in the 42 T20Is he has played. He has amassed 1164 at an even better strike rate of 187.43 in the 31 shortest-format games he has played this year.
During an interaction with News24 Sports, Moeen was asked about his views on Suryakumar, to which he responded:
"Right now, the best player in T20 cricket. He plays 360 degrees, he plays like AB de Villiers, amazing to watch."
Just Suryakumar Yadav's Things 🔥
#INDvsNZ #NZvIND https://t.co/cAUGsMszt8
The spin-bowling all-rounder was also asked about his excellent record against Virat Kohli. He replied by saying:
"It happens, when you play against somebody so many times, of course you will get them out. Actually, he has faced my best ball so many times. That ball comes for some reason when he is facing. That ball doesn't come when others are facing."
Moeen has dismissed Kohli 10 times in international cricket. He has accounted for the Indian batting mainstay's dismissal on six occasions in Test matches, and thrice and once, respectively, in ODIs and T20Is.
"They came under slight pressure" - Moeen Ali on India failing to pick up a wicket in T20 World Cup loss to England
Moeen was further asked about his thoughts on the Men in Blue failing to pick up a wicket in the T20 World Cup semi-final loss to England last month.
"It was an extremely good performance, it was our best performance. They came under slight pressure," Moeen said. "The runs were quite less, that pitch was extremely good. We thought 200 or 210 would have been difficult, it was a small ground on the sides. We actually bowled very well. The Indian batting was slightly slow."
The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player was also asked about the contrast between the semi-finals rivals' approach to T20I cricket, with the Indian openers even playing maiden overs at the start of the innings. He responded:
"Our mindset is either get out or hit a six. If you play defensive shots and your intention is not to score runs, you are out of the team."
Against a team like England heavily skewed towards batting, India batted conservatively (100/3 in first 15 overs) and had no Plan B when the new ball didn't yield breakthroughs. A safety first batting approach has knocked out India in yet another T20 World Cup!!!
The Indian batters, especially the openers, were conservative in their approach in the T20 World Cup. It was best exemplified in the semi-final clash between the two sides, where Rohit Sharma and Co. managed 38/1 in the powerplay, while Jos Buttler and Alex Hales smashed 63 runs in the first six overs of their innings.