Ravi Shastri Praises Suryakumar Yadav Ahead of India vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup Clash

New Delhi [India], June 22: Former head coach of the Indian cricket team, Ravi Shastri, has praised star batter Suryakumar Yadav for his brilliant performance against Afghanistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Suryakumar scored 53 runs from 28 balls, hitting 5 fours and 3 sixes, before being dismissed by Fazalhaq Farooqi in the 17th over.

India won their previous Super Eight match against Afghanistan by 47 runs, while Bangladesh lost their first Super Eight match by 28 runs. Shastri, in a video posted by ICC on Instagram, compared Yadav to AB de Villiers, noting his ability to hit the ball in unusual positions and out-think bowlers.

Shastri said, “He’s one of the few who can go 360 degrees and hit parts of the ground that aren’t easy to hit. Much like AB de Villiers, he hits balls into unusual positions and confuses a lot of the bowlers. He’s a terrific player. It’s his ability to out-think the bowler. He pre-empts, he’s very intuitive and he backs that challenge when he’s looking to guess right. And what makes him dangerous is his ability to improvise and out-think the bowler.”

India aims to end their ICC trophy drought since the 2013 Champions Trophy and win their first T20 World Cup since 2007. The Indian squad includes Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The Bangladesh squad includes Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (WK), Najmul Hossain Shanto (C), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman, Jaker Ali, Tanvir Islam, Shoriful Islam, and Soumya Sarkar.