India's middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav recently rose to second spot in the ICC T20I rankings for batters after his incredible performance in 5-match T20I series against West Indies. Suryakumar is second to Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who secured the top-spot in the rankings owing to his consistency in the shortest format.
The Indian batter has cemented his position in the white-ball set up due to his incredible batting style which included shots all-around the park. His ability to play lap shots, late cuts, ramp the delivery over the keeper's head and perfectly play the ball down the ground has evoked many cricket experts to heap praise on the batter.
Speaking on The ICC Review, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting hailed the Indian batter for his 'pyro' technique abilities with the bat in T20 set-up and compared him with the legendary South African batter AB De Villiers. Notably, Ponting drew the comparison amongst both the batter due to their ability to play 360-degree and claimed that 'Surya bats like AB De Villers' did when he was in his prime.
"Suryakumar Yadav scores 360 degrees around the ground, bit like an AB de Villiers did when he was in actual prime," he had said. However, Ponting's appreciation for Suryakumar Yadav didn't go well with the former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt who took a sly dig at the former Australian skipper by suggesting he must have had a 'jet lag.'
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"Surya has just started playing. No doubt that he is talented and has the unique ability to innovate his shot, but comparing him with the South African legend is far stretched. Fact of the matter is we haven't seen any new generation batter playing like De Villiers. You can maybe compare him with Viv Richards,” Butt said.
"Players like Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli are all superb players and have immense talent. They all can turnaround the game in any moment. But I feel no one in recent history has ever played like AB De Villiers," Butt concluded.