Former India seamer Varun Aaron has opined that Suryakumar Yadav’s knock in the first T20I against Australia would give him a lot of confidence. He noted that the unconventional batter’s six off Josh Hazlewood’s bowling provided the required momentum.
Suryakumar scored an unbeaten 39 off 24 deliveries in the first T20I between India and Australia played in Canberra on Wednesday, October 29. However, the match ended without a result as rain interrupted play when India were 97/1 in 9.4 overs after being asked to bat first.
During an interaction on the Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues,’ Aaron was asked about his thoughts on Suryakumar’s innings in the game. He said,
“I think this will give him a lot of confidence. No matter how big a batter you are, we saw it with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the ODI series — even with almost 15,000 ODI runs, when you don’t get runs, you suddenly feel like you can’t hit a single boundary. Suryakumar was averaging 11 before he came into this innings, and he has batted just like Suryakumar Yadav.”
Aaron further highlighted the significance of Suryakumar’s first shot off Hazlewood, adding,
“That first shot against Josh Hazlewood was just a statement shot because the previous ball, most batsmen after getting a ball like that, to which he was beaten all ends up, would be a bit cautious and try and take a safe route. But Suryakumar Yadav did what he does best. That was an unbelievable six. That just got him off.”
Aaron also lamented how rain played spoilsport as Suryakumar seemed on course for a big score while targeting Nathan Ellis in the tenth over. The Indian captain had already smashed the Aussie seamer for two fours and a six off the first three balls of that over.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel also shared his thoughts on Star Sports, focusing on Suryakumar’s footwork after the six off Hazlewood.
“When you get one of your favorite shots at the start, which Suryakumar got here, the shot he played off Hazlewood’s bowling, after that, although no runs came off two balls, it seemed like the footwork had almost returned. The surety was being seen in the footwork,” he said.
Parthiv added that the defensive field settings by Australian bowler Matthew Kuhnemann also worked in Suryakumar’s favour.
“After that, when Kuhnemann came to bowl, he hadn’t bowled even his first ball and had kept the cover fielder back. It means the thought process was defensive. When such big players know that the bowler is bowling only with a defensive thought process, then you can attack,” observed Parthiv.
To conclude, Parthiv expressed surprise at Australia’s game plan against Suryakumar Yadav. He pointed out that the hosts kept two fielders in the deep on the leg side and bowled on the Indian captain’s legs, noting that boundary dimensions don’t matter much when the ball is played in that area.
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Edited by Kartik Iyer.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/news-that-just-got-off-former-india-bowler-suryakumar-yadav-s-knock-aus-vs-ind-2025-1st-t20i