Former New Zealand batter, Ross Taylor has opined that Suryakumar Yadav’s knock in the second T20I on Sunday is one of the best he has seen on New Zealand soil. On November 20, Yadav played a mind-boggling knock of 111* off 51 balls with the help of 11 fours and seven sixes. On the back of his knock, India beat the Black Caps by 65 runs at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui and took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

During a recent chat with ESPNCricinfo, Ross Taylor said, “It was an unbelievable knock. The way he started, the way he hits gaps; I have seen a lot of good innings in New Zealand by McCullum, Guptill, and Munro, but that would have to be up there with the best T20 hundreds I have seen on these shores in the history of the game.”

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Taylor reckoned that the 32-year-old Suryakumar has a lot of skills and uses them in his shot-making.

Ross Taylor further explained, “He takes calculated risks; the inside-out shot over cover against spinners is such a low-risk shot. I think he had a little bit of luck when he tried to ramp Ferguson, but other than that, I don’t think he really gave him a chance. New Zealand brought up the fielders and he backed himself to hit over them. He doesn’t try and over-hit the ball, try and muscle it over there; there’s still a lot of skill and he played really good cricketing shots.”

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The Mumbai-born Suryakumar got to his half-century off 32 balls after he stepped on the gas to pummel the Black Caps’ bowlers. Yadav also broke the record of former skipper Virat Kohli’s record of most Player of the Match awards by an Indian batter in a calendar year. Suryakumar has now won 7 of those awards in 2022 and there are a few games to go.