"He needed a supporting role from someone" - Virender Sehwag says Suryakumar Yadav's knock would have looked better if it was on the winning side
Virender Sehwag feels Suryakumar Yadav's century in the third T20I against England would have earned more plaudits if he had gotten adequate support from the other end for it to come in a winning cause.
Yadav smoked 117 runs off just 55 balls after Team India were precariously placed at a score of 31/3 after five overs while chasing a 216-run target. However, his knock went in vain as Rohit Sharma and Co. eventually lost the match by 17 runs.
While reviewing the game during a discussion on Sony Sports, Sehwag had the following to say about Suryakumar's knock:
"He built his innings, he played cautiously for the first 5-10 balls but after that, the fours and sixes started coming, and then the manner in which he was playing, India should have won the match. He needed a supporting role from someone who could stand with him and play."
While acknowledging that Shreyas Iyer gave Suryakumar decent support whilst he was at the crease, the former Indian opener feels the subsequent batters could have done better. Sehwag elaborated:
"Shreyas Iyer scored 28 runs off 23 balls and he definitely did support him for some time, but the batters after that did not give him company. Such a knock would have looked better if it was on the winning side and there would have been more discussions about it, now we will only say that it was a good knock but India lost."
Suryakumar Yadav - 117 💥
Next Best - Shreyas (28)
This Is ONLY T20I Century for India, When No other player Scored more than 30+ runs !
#ENGvIND https://t.co/ql7TPXiBbC
Suryakumar and Iyer strung together a 119-run partnership for the fourth wicket, with the former being the principal contributor. The Men In Blue lost a flurry of wickets after Iyer's dismissal and fell short of the target.
"Most of his shots were off good balls" - Sanjay Manjrekar says this sets Suryakumar Yadav apart from other batters
Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted the key attributes of Suryakumar's batting. He observed:
"I just want to say one thing, that a thing that sets Suryakumar Yadav apart, there is a lot of competition in the middle order, if you see the bowling, there might be two-three bad balls on which he has hit fours and sixes. Most of his shots were off good balls."
The 56-year-old concluded by stating that his fellow Mumbaikar can play big shots even against good deliveries. Manjrekar explained:
"This is his specialty. I have always been seeing this one thing about Suryakumar Yadav, that if you bowl a good ball to him, there is no guarantee that you will not get hit. A lot of other batters play well but struggle slightly against good balls."
An extraordinary shot.
Scorecard/clips: ms.spr.ly/6011b0siU
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 https://t.co/JBcZStcP7l
Suryakumar's belligerent knock was studded with 14 fours and six maximums. A couple of sixes he hit against the pacers over point left the cricket experts dumbstruck.
Also Read: "I am not ready to agree that he is ahead in the pecking order" - Aakash Chopra on Shreyas Iyer playing ahead of Deepak Hooda in 3rd Ind-Eng T20I