India's star batter Suryakumar Yadav slammed a blistering 33-ball 50 in the first T20I against South Africa to propel India to an emphatic eight-wicket victory on September 28.
Time and again the flamboyant Suryakumar has proved how good a player he is when it comes to the shortest format of the game. The array of shots Surya has makes him the one of the best yet formidable player of the modern day cricket.
Suryakumar Yadav's incredibly strong and powerful batting has made him one of the most feared T20 batters at the moment and South African all-rounder Wayne Parnell says the bowlers will have to stay strong and focussed while tackling him.
"Personally from what I've watched in the last couple of months, I think he's probably the best T20 batters at the moment. He scores 360-degree which is very difficult for bowlers to defend," he said on the eve of the second and penultimate T20I of the series.
"It's about being strong and focussed on each ball. He's allowed to play good shots, but the other day he was lucky as well. He's certainly a guy whom I enjoyed watching the last couple of months. He's certainly playing good cricket," Parnell said.
Parnell insisted that their flop show in the first T20I was an aberration and there's no need to panic before the T20 World Cup in Australia.
"It's just one of those things. It wasn't a good T20 wicket and they bowled really well, but our batters have been world class in the last couple of years so there's nothing to panic about," he said.
Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar hit the South Africans hard with some magical swing bowling before Suryakumar Yadav's little gem on a difficult track ensured an easy eight-wicket victory for India in the first T20 International.
A target of 107 on a pitch with underlying moisture and more than waist high bounce at times was a struggle before Suryakumar (50 not out in 33 balls) released the pressure created by KL Rahul (51 not out, 56 balls) as India won the game in 16.4 overs to go 1-0 up in three-match series.
On their meek show in the powerplay when they were stuttering 9 for five, Parnell said, "It's a bit of a Catch-22 situation really. Certainly experience tells you that new ball does swing so you have to have a look at the first one-two overs." "We have to credit the Indian seamers who bowled really well. We will have to define ways to counter that in the second game."
Kagiso Rabada and Parnell hit the right lengths but the likes of Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi struggled badly in the first match as the visitors looked one seamer short.
"Competition is good for the spots. Every single fast bowlers is different and has different skill sets. It's a positive sign for us. It also means that when we are presented with any particular condition, we can play a certain set of fast bowlers so I think personally having the variety that we have is really exciting," he said.
On World Cup preparation, he said: "It's been very good over the last few months. We were here in June, then went on a UK tour, coming back here again before going to Australia. Everyone is in really good spirits and looking forward to next couple of T20Is and the ODIs as well."
India's squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed and Mohammad Siraj.
South Africa's squad: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
