'Maybe he had a jet lag' - Salman Butt disagrees with Ricky Ponting comparing Surkyakumar Yadav to AB de Villiers
Ponting had said that Suryakumar Yadav's batting reminded him of AB de Villiers' 360-degree batting.
Salman Butt, former captain of Pakistan, thinks Ricky Ponting was wrong to compare Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav to former Proteas cricketer AB de Villiers. Yadav, who is presently ranked second among batters in the ICC T20I rankings, received nothing but praise from Ponting as he said Suryakumar Yadav’s 360-degree batting style is reminiscent of De Villiers’.
Butt disagreed with Ponting’s remarks as he believes that no other batter can match De Villiers’ magnitude of talent. Yadav has grown immensely in the white-ball format, and his numbers in the 20-over game speak for themselves. While playing against England last month, he smashed a magnificent ton and entered an elite list, becoming just the fifth Indian batter to achieve the feat in T20Is.
“The kind of cricket AB de Villiers played, I feel no one in even recent history has ever played like him. The kind of impact he had, opposition teams knew that if you cannot dismiss him you cannot win the match. There is Root, Williamson, Kohli as well who has been world no.1 batter and has scored incredible hundreds. Rohit Sharma on his day has scored 250 runs in ODIs. So, maybe Ponting had a jet lag,” Butt said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Ricky Ponting should have waited a bit more: Butt
Suryakumar Yadav’s next big assignment is the Asia Cup which commences on August 27, with India’s first game scheduled for August 28 against arch-rivals Pakistan, and the prolific batter will likely make it to the team combination. Butt felt that before drawing this comparison, Ponting should have waited for Yadav to prove his value in major tournaments.
“He has just started to play international cricket. He has talent and has played well. But comparing him straight to AB de Villiers? Ponting should have waited a bit more. He is yet to play in big tournaments. The fact is that there hasn’t been a player like AB de Villiers. You can maybe compare him with Viv Richards,” Butt further stated.
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