Asia Cup 2022: I don’t want him to open, I think number four is his best spot – Ricky Ponting feels Suryakumar Yadav is best suited in middle order

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has opposed the idea of Suryakumar Yadav opening the innings for Team India in T20I cricket. Yadav was given the opportunity to open the innings in the five-match T20I series against West Indies.

The right-hander had a done job in four matches he opened and scored a fine knock of 76 runs off just 43 balls. However, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are expected to be India’s opening pair in the T20I World Cup and the Asia Cup.

The 31-year-old has had a great start to his T20I career after making his debut against England in 2021.

Yadav has scored 672 runs in 23 T20I matches at an average of 37.33 and a brilliant strike rate of 175.46. Thus, Yadav has been a consistent performer in the shortest format of the game and has done a fine job for the Indian team.

Ricky Ponting said while talking to ICC review, “For Surya, it’s one, two or four. I think he can open, but I think he’s probably, you know, if you could probably just keep him away from the new ball, let him control the middle part of the game outside the Powerplay, through in the middle, and if he’s in at the end, you know what can happen.”

Ponting continued: “I think in the top four is, well, actually I’ll go out on a limb: I don’t want him to open. I think number four is his best spot.”

Suryakumar Yadav is currently at the second spot in the ICC T20I rankings and he is only a couple of points away from Babar Azam.

Yadav is known to play all around the ground and he has the skills to successfully thread the field. Thus, he is known as a 360-degree batter and he can also hit the ground running. Ponting added that Yadav is bit like former South African batter AB de Villiers, who was renownedly known as a Mr. 360 degree.

“Surya (Yadav) scores 360 degrees around the ground, a bit like an AB de Villiers did when he was in his actual prime. The lap shots, the late cuts, you know, the ramps over the keeper’s head. He can hit down the ground.”

The former Australia captain added: “He hits really well over the leg side, flicks to deep backward square particularly well, and he’s a good player of fast bowling and is a good player of spin bowling.”

Yadav will be in action in the upcoming Asia Cup.