Find a way to bat Suryakumar Yadav at No. 3 in T20 World Cup: Brian Lara

Legendary Brian Lara feels India’s think tank must find a way to bat Suryakumar Yadav at one down in the T20 World Cup. SKY is expected to bat at number four in the upcoming T20I showpiece with Rohit Sharma, and Yashasvi Jaiswal opening the innings whereas Virat Kohli could bat at one down.

Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav scored a scintillating knock of 102 runs off 51 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday. This was SKY’s second IPL century as he batted at the top of his game.

Yadav completed his fifty off 30 balls and then changed gears to score the next fifty off just 21 balls. The right-hander has scored 334 runs in nine matches of IPL 2024 at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 176.71 in the ongoing IPL 2024.

“My one advice, and I don’t know if you’re going to like it or not, but Sky has to bat at three. He just has to bat at three. He is one of the greatest T20 players in the game. And you speak to players like Sir Viv (Vivian Richards), and he will tell you he used to want to get out there in the middle,” Lara said on PTI.

“And I feel that that’s the same thing with SKY. So, get in on it as quickly as possible. He is not an opener, get him out there and if he can bat for 10–15 overs, you know what is going to happen.”

The former left-hander feels SKY can win the game for India on his own in the T20I format.

“He is going to put you in an unassailable position if you bat him first, or he’s going to win the game if he is batting second. And then let everybody sort of position themselves outside of that, but a good structure is important,” Lara said.

“Just find a way to make Suryakumar Yadav bat at No. 3.”

Yadav has scored 2141 runs in 60 T20I matches at an average of 45.55 and a blistering strike rate of 171.55.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5th.