He is a talent you rarely see: Glenn Phillips on Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav has been a blazing lodestar in the Indian fabric in the shortest format of the game and his recent run of affairs have drawn some serious contrast with his elite contemporaries who have been pulling all the right strings too, only in different threads.

The 32-year-old middle-order biffer has so far savoured a phenomenal 2022 where he has amassed more than 1000 runs and is on the right track to give a tough chase to Mohammad Rizwan’s record of scoring the highest number of T20I runs in a calendar year even though with just two games remaining it is difficult for him to better the record.

New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips has been in terrific form of late too and can very well be the big name that the Kiwis would hope will explode when India come knocking. Talking to Stuff.co.nz, describing the kind of raw talent that SKY is, Phillips said, “He’s absolutely incredible. The things that he does I wouldn’t even dream of doing. I would love to try but we have very different games. The wrist strength that he’s got to be able to hit balls for six in extremely awkward areas is a talent you rarely see.”

He also talked about the varying strengths that the two come to the game with. Phillips further added, “I’ve got my strengths and he’s got his and we go about our jobs in different ways. And the way we both play presents opportunities for the opposition to get us out as well. It’s part of the risk and reward of middle-order cricket in T20.”

The New Zealand hard-hitter had a few observations and predictions about SKY’s batting in the forthcoming days, concluding, “I could easily see [Yadav’s] strike rate being even higher here than it was in Australia, with the slightly smaller grounds and the pitches very similar, potentially a bit bouncier with a bit more grass on them. It’s going to be very interesting what sort of strike rates we see here.”