'Innovation-wise, skill-wise, I haven't seen a better player than Suryakumar Yadav' - Ricky Ponting

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Legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has called India middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav a trailblazer who could inspire a new species of players to imitate his style of play and take Twenty20 (T20) cricket to "another level" globally. Suryakumar, 32, was recently anointed the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year after he became only the second batter in the world to slash 1,000-plus runs in a calendar year in the shortest format of the game. Surya lacerated a couple of centuries and nine half-tons on the way to compiling 1,164 runs in 2022, only second behind Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan, who leads the charts with 1,326 runs in 2021.

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"I think innovation-wise, skill-wise, I haven't seen a better player [than Suryakumar] in the game. What it's going to do as well, a lot of other players are going to try and do the things he's doing, and it's going to add another level of skill to the T20 game all around the world," Ponting told the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday.

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"Someone said during the IPL [Indian Premier League] this year [2022], there are going to be guys who will try and do the same as what Surya's doing, and that's going to be great for the game," added Ponting. Surya's 1,100-plus runs last year came in 31 T20Is at a breathtaking strike rate of 187.43 and an average of 46.56, thrusting him to the top of the ICC Men's T20I Batting Rankings.

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Ponting also called the Indian cricketer the greatest innovator in the shortest version, comparing his batting style with South African white-ball expert AB de Villiers and former Australian wicketkeeper-opener Adam Gilchrist. "He's probably doing it better than anyone's ever done it. We talk about players that can score 360 degrees. Some of the shots he's hitting back behind the wicket-keeper and over fine leg are just remarkable," he reckoned.

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Ponting articulated that he noticed Surya's innate talent a few years back in the IPL, where he was making flicking the ball over deep-backwards square look so effortless. The former skipper added that the batter has taken his stroke-play to another level and is playing some gutsy shots like flicking short balls for sixes over the wicket-keeper's head.

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"Five or six years ago, he started doing that [innovating] a lot in the IPL. He was very good at flicking the ball over deep-backwards square and getting the ball over fine-leg. Surya's now been able to hit short balls on the way up and flick short balls over the keeper's head, and they're going for six, not just four," Ponting enunciated.

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Ponting initially thought Suryakumar would never touch such heights, but his work ethic and rugged regimen have resulted in his sensation. The cricketer scored the third-most runs at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 -- 239 -- in Australia, which was only behind Virat Kohli (296) and Max O'Dowd of the Netherlands (242).

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SKY then continued the good work in the T20I series versus New Zealand and Sri Lanka, climbing to the second-highest T20 batting rating ever recorded -- 908 points. "I didn't think he'd get to the level he's got to, to be quite honest. He's worked as hard as he has -- you can probably tell by his body shape. He's probably fitter than he's ever been, being around the Indian set-up with the likes of Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and these guys, who are exceptionally fit young guys," Ponting concluded.

(With inputs from PTI)