'Boult turned towards me and said he's the best I've seen. There was Rohit, Hardik but...': Neesham lauds Suryakumar
Neesham, who was a part of the team against which Suryakumar slammed his second T20I hundred in Mount Maunganui last year after the T20 World Cup, narrated an interesting story. Neesham said Trent Boult, who is one of the best fast bowlers in the world, heaped praise on SKY, terming him as the best he has bowled to, in the nets of Mumbai Indians
Very few cricketers have achieved what Suryakumar Yadav has in T20Is in the last couple of years or so. Since the beginning of 2022, Suryakumar is the only cricketer to have registered more than 1000 runs in the shortest format of the game. He, in fact, has 1381 runs in 35 matches at an average of close to 50. The next best is Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan, who has scored 996 runs in 26 matches. But more than the run-scoring, it's the pace at which SKy gets them, is something that makes him unique.
Suryakumar's strike rate of 184 in the last 12 months is miles ahead of all batters who play regular top-quality cricket. Moreover, the Indian right-handed batter has hit the most number of fours (121) and sixes (82) in the last 12 months in T20Is. Apart from that, he has the most hundreds (3) and the most fifty-plus scores (13) during this period.
The Mumbai cricketer was in a similar sort of mood even in the first T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi. After taking a little bit of time to assess the conditions which were in favour of the spinners, SKY started to belt the ball to all parts of the ground. He was nearing yet another half-century when his attempted chip shot went straight to the long on the field off Ish Sodhi's bowling.
SKY's wicket ended up being the turning point of the match as New Zealand took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with a 21-run victory on Friday.
Talking about Suryakumar's brilliance with the bat, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham said the Indian is the best T20I batter in the world.
"He's head and shoulders the best T20 batter in the world currently," he said on Star Sports.
Neesham, who was a part of the team against which Suryakumar slammed his second T20I hundred in Mount Maunganui last year after the T20 World Cup, narrated an interesting story. Neesham said Trent Boult, who is one of the best fast bowlers in the world, heaped praise on SKY, terming him as the best he has bowled to, in the nets of Mumbai Indians when the trio were a part of the same team a couple of seasons ago in the IPL.
"I look back to two years ago when I joined the Mumbai Indians camp. After the first training, Trent Boult turned towards me and says 'Look at this guy. He's the best batsman I've ever seen'. To make a comment on a team that has Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Kieron Pollard is a big statement. He's gone from strength to strength. His innings against us at Mt Maunganui was absolutely fantastic. The best piece of power-hitting I have seen. He's a 360 player. No matter what plan you come up with, he does the opposite. He reminds me a lot of AB de Villiers in his prime," Neesham said.