Former New Zealand all-rounder, Scott Styris has immense praise for the versatility of Suryakumar Yadav, saying that the right-handed batter has the X Factor compared to the other batters around him. Yadav has been enjoying a purple patch in T20 cricket with many feeling that he will be in the starting XI for the upcoming World Cup in Australia. His exploits with the bat have helped him to rise up to second in the ICC Rankings for T20 batters, just a few points behind Babar Azam.

The 31-year-old opened the batting for India in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies and played a match-winning knock of 76 runs in the third game. Speaking on Sports18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports Over The Top’, Styris said that he isn’t surprised by Yadav’s success opening the batting for India, as he feels that a good player will flourish regardless of the batting position. 

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Scott Styris explained, “So, no, I am not surprised that he has made a great fist of opening the batting, but what a problem to have. I am incredibly jealous and envious of India’s issues at the moment. This is a first-world problem. Should he open it? Should he be at three? How tough is it for you guys to go right now? But yeah, I think you might see some seniority step in here and maybe that means SKY might be down at number four.”

Styris further went on to praise the ability of Yadav to bat 360 degrees and said that the right-handed batter provides a little X Factor that others around him can’t provide.

Former Kiwi all-rounder said, “It is the thing that I like to talk about the most about Suryakumar Yadav and that is his ability to hit the ball into funny areas. And that makes it incredibly difficult for the opposition captains to defend the field. He can hit 360 degrees. He is not traditional. It is not always over long on or over long off.”

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Scott Styris concluded, “It’s really over extra cover, fine leg against pace bowlers, which means that he’s got so many options. And when that’s the case, he provides that little X factor in terms of something different to the other batsman around him, doesn’t always have to be left hand right hand. It can be what areas of the ground and what types of bowling you really do succeed against. And that is one of the strengths he has.”