T20 World Cup: 'Hard to find weakness in Suryakumar's technique': Ex-New Zealand skipper

Former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming has said that it is very hard to find an area of weakness in the technique of Suryakumar Yadav, who was the lone warrior for the Men in Blue in their disappointing show with the bat against South Africa in the Group 2, Super 12 match of ICC T20 World Cup in Perth.

On a bouncy, fast Perth surface where heavyweights like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma failed to go big and all other Indian batters combined 57 runs in 80 balls, Suryakumar seemed to be unfazed, playing his natural game to score 68 off 40 balls that helped India post 133/9 in their 20 overs, which was chased down by South Africa with five wickets in hand and two balls to spare.

"He just has a really positive mindset," Fleming said on ESPNCricinfo's programme T20 Time: Out.

"And he has a very open and aggressive stance which allows him to play a lot of unusual areas. So he has sort of created a technique which bowlers are finding it hard to find the right lengths [against] because if they are full he will hit all the way over cover or around; if they are fractionally short he will go over third man and point."

"And anything straight, he is very good with the short ball. So he has developed a technique that is very hard to find an area of weakness [in]," Fleming said.

On the same show, former South African skipper Faf Du Plessis also heaped praise on Suryakumar, his skillset, shot range and composure.

"His skill set is so high that as a bowler you do not feel like you can tie him down to certain areas. He has got all the different shots, scores in all the different areas," du Plessis said.

"The thing that stands out for me with him is his composure. With a guy who has got so many shots I almost never see him be frantic and feel rushed. He has just got this calmness about him. He knows when to pull that trigger, go through the gears, and he just always looks calm. He is just a fantastic T20 player to watch. He is the perfect guy that as a youngster you look at how you go through different gears at different stages of the game," Plessis concluded.

With this win, South Africa is on the top of the table with five points and two wins in three matches. India is in the second position with four points and two wins in three.

India posted 133/9 in their 20 overs after electing to bat first.

Suryakumar Yadav (68) was India's only star in batting. Big names like KL Rahul (9), skipper Rohit Sharma (15) and Virat Kohli (12) fell flat against the South African pace attack today.

Lungi Ngidi was the pick of the bowlers dismissing four Indian batters while giving away 29 runs, while Wayne Parnell bagged three wickets. Anrich Nortje also got a wicket.

Chasing 134, South Africa was reduced to 24/3 by Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Shami.

Then a stand of 76 runs between David Miller (59*) and Aiden Markram (52) brought back South Africa into the game and it won the match by five wickets with two balls to spare.

Arshdeep Singh finished as the top bowler for India, taking 2/29. Pandya, Shami and Ashwin got a wicket each.

Brief Score: India: 133/9 (Suryakumar Yadav 68, Rohit Sharma 15; Lungi Ngidi 4/29) lost to South Africa: 137/5 in 19.4 overs (David Miller 59*, Aiden Markram 52, Arshdeep Singh 2/29).

(ANI)

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