NEW DELHI: West Indies batting legend
Brian Lara
praised Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman
Suryakumar Yadav
for his outstanding batting after returning from an injury layoff as they square off against Chennai Super Kings in the
IPL 2024
'El Clasico' on Sunday night.
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While offering his thoughts on the upcoming match between CSK spinner
Ravindra Jadeja
and Yadav, Lara began by praising the Chennai spinner for his extraordinary abilities, pointing out that in most games, he would depend on slower balls.
Speaking on Star Sports Cricket Live, the former West Indies cricketer said, "Yeah, it's a battle, but you know, okay, those are some stats that you pull out. I mean, those are the times when he may have failed, but this guy is in superb form. And I mean, if he wants to succumb to that and say, okay, I'm going to rematch against you later. I've got other guys I can take on. He can do that as well."
"But I believe that the confidence that he's in, whether it's left arm spin or left arm pace, whatever you call it, I think he's going to drop the slower balls for most battles. And when you have to actually put pace on the ball, it's always dicey. You like pace on the ball where you can carve it in different directions," he said.
The West Indian also highlighted the expectation of an interesting fight from Suryakumar, suggesting that it would be one to keep an eye on.
After a protracted absence due to an ankle injury and sports hernia surgery,
Suryakumar
rejoined the Mumbai team for the game against Delhi Capitals but was out for a duck. Suryakumar had missed the first three games for MI.
However, the batsman was back to his best in the subsequent match against the
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
(RCB), smashing a 19-ball 52 to tie the MI record for the second-fastest fifty.
After the 33-year-old hitter returned from a long injury layoff, Lara was amazed by his performance and said he had never seen shots like that from someone who was just returning from injury.
"But what I saw a couple of days ago from Suryakumar Yadav is just genius. I think, I've not seen shots like that from a guy who's just coming off an injury, coming off a first-half attack, or at least a zero in the last game. Tremendous. And I think whatever battle will come from Suryakumar Yadav," added Lara.
(With IANS inputs)
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