IND vs WI 2022: "Lives by the sword, so dies by the sword as well" - Aakash Chopra lauds Suryakumar Yadav's knock in 3rd T20I
Aakash Chopra has lauded Suryakumar Yadav for playing a match-winning knock in the third T20I between India and West Indies.
The Caribbean side set the Men in Blue a 165-run target at the Warner Park Stadium in Basseterre on Tuesday, August 2. Yadav smoked 76 runs off just 44 balls as the visitors chased down the target with seven wickets and an over to spare.
While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked Yadav as his Player of the Match, elaborating:
"Up above the world so high, shining like a diamond, his name is SKY. My Player of the Match, is there any doubt about that, Suryakumar Yadav is an amazing guy. He plays upper cuts, straight down the ground, flicks, sweeps - of course, lives by the sword, so dies by the sword as well."
Chopra was effusive in his praise for the Mumbai Indians batter, who has opened in the three T20Is against the Windies thus far. The cricketer-turned-commentator said:
"He had already hit one, tried to hit another one, although the fine leg fielder had been sent back this time, and got out. Surya Namaskar, the way the guy batted - fantastic, incredible and unparalleled. He batted amazingly well and destroyed the opposition team while opening the batting."
Yadav first swept Dominic Drakes for a four over the short fine leg fielder. He tried to play a similar shot to a slightly wider delivery off the very next ball, only to get a top edge and be caught by the fine leg fielder.
"Suryakumar Yadav didn't make us feel at all that the Indian team was going slightly slow" - Aakash Chopra
Chopra pointed out that Yadav made up for the early loss of Rohit Sharma and the slow knock played by Shreyas Iyer. He explained:
"The dominance with which he (Yadav) batted, started with Rohit Sharma who got injured, Shreyas Iyer was running at run-a-ball, in fact, slower than that but Suryakumar Yadav didn't make us feel at all that the Indian team was going slightly slow and it was required to run slightly faster."
Chopra added that the 31-year-old ensured that the decent target did not pose a challenge for Team India. The former Indian opener observed:
"I am saying that West Indies were slightly short but you still need to score 164 runs, it is eight runs an over, there were enough runs to fight. But Suryakumar Yadav said that there will be no fight, he is there."
Suryakumar Yadav special in the run chase.
https://t.co/TkFcUPsAX9
Chopra, however, questioned whether the opener's position is the right spot for Yadav. He added that it would be interesting to see the Indian team management's thinking going forward if the middle-order batter scores runs as an opener in the next two games as well.