Slower Balls A Weakness For Suryakumar Yadav? AB De Villiers' Ultimate Verdict
South Africa's legendary player AB de Villiers has shared his thoughts on Suryakumar's batting.
India's T20I captain and star player Suryakumar Yadav is going through a lean patch with the bat for quite a long time now. He was handed the captaincy in July last year after Rohit Sharma decided to quit the format following India's T20 World Cup triumph. Suryakumar has so far played 20 innings in the format, but managed to score just 330 runs at an average of 18.33. His highest score is 75. The ongoing year is particularly poor for him as the player has scored just 100 runs in 11 innings. His average in 2025 has dipped to 11.11.
South Africa's legendary player AB de Villiers has shared his thoughts on Suryakumar's batting. When responding to a question about if slower balls are a weakness for the India batter, the former Proteas captain came up with a positive reply.
"I think it's more a case of when he sees a slower ball, he sees opportunities. So I like the fact that he has got an attacking mindset. And the minute he sees it, he sees it so early and that is one of his biggest strengths - he picks up length and the pace of the ball very quickly," said de Villiers on his YouTube channel 'AB de Villiers 360'.
"I wouldn't say it's a weakness (slower balls) but when you start getting out to the same delivery over and over again, you've to tweak a couple of things in your technique and more so your mindset than anything else. It's just a matter of him seeing it as an opportunity, he picks up it's a slower ball and he wants more than just one or two runs," he added.
De Villiers suggested that Suryakumar could start his innings with grounded shots for a safe beginning.
"He maybe a little bit overly greedy and that's maybe just a mindset tweak. I wouldn't be too concerned about it but it's a personal thing for him to figure out. Find spaces in the field and make sure you get two. Maybe keep it on the floor and try to get a four instead of big sixes," he said.
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AB de Villiers