Suryakumar Yadav has surged to the top of the T20I Batting Rankings but Ross Taylor believes the India sensation can have even more of an impact.
The India star climbed to top spot in the Men’s Batting Rankings after just 37 T20Is but New
Zealand legend Ross Taylor expects Yadav to get even better as he moves up the order.
The right-handed batter averaged 40.65 at an incredible strike rate of 177 on his way to the No.1 ranking, but has generally shone brightest when batting at number four for India in 21 of those
T20Is.
Yadav scored his only T20I ton when batting at second drop, and soared to the top of the rankings with an average of 46.56 and strike rate of 184.86 in his usual position.
But Taylor believes Yadav can have even more of an impact when – not if – he moves higher in
India’s batting line-up.
“Four-five is the hardest place to bat in T20s,” said Taylor, who batted in those positions in 74 of his 94 T20I innings.
“To be ranked No.1 when you’re batting behind KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, some fantastic batters in there, and for him to just come out and play the way he does is a credit to him,”
he said.
“I’m sure over time he will start batting up the order, or batting where he wants to, but for a guy batting at four, I still think that’s an amazing effort,” Taylor said.
“I don’t know how he does it. He comes in, he sums up the situation really well, runs well between
the wickets, but he has a lot of confidence,” he said.
“He intimidates bowlers once he starts getting himself in, because it feels like he can hit the ball anywhere at the moment,” Taylor said.
Taylor was in India for their recent white-ball home series against Australia and South Africa, and
was especially impressed with a close-up view of Yadav in action.
The former New Zealand T20I skipper tried to pinpoint what has made Yadav such a success, as
well as identifying what separates him from other batters at the moment.
“He’s able to utilise the pace, play some dinky shots, but at the same time he’s got the power, he’s able to hit those pockets, hit them hard,” Taylor said.
“There is something about watching him, you know something is going to happen within two or
three balls,” he said.
“There was a lot of talk leading into (the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup), that he’d scored a lot of runs in India but could he do it away from home, and I think he’s proved a lot of those people wrong,” Taylor
said.
“The big boundaries as well, he’s smacking them for six on the biggest boundaries in the world, so he’s silenced a lot of critics,” he added.
