'New Universe Boss': Ex-PAK star's huge Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers statement while hailing 'beast' Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav has been in the form of his life and continued on the same vein when he became the second Indian batter after Rohit Sharma to score a third century in T20I cricket.
If fans feared that Suryakumar Yadav's extraordinary form could drop off in the new year, the 32-year-old seemed to have allayed them with a whirlwind knock against Sri Lanka that almost single-handedly gave India a series win. Suryakumar smashed a whirlwind 112 off 51 balls, smacking seven fours and nine sixes in his explosive innings, as India beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs in the third T20I in Rajkot on Saturday.
Suryakumar has thus become just the second Indian batter after Rohit Sharma to score three T20I centuries. He had rewritten a number of record books in 2022 by scoring a whopping 1164 runs at a strike rate of 187.43 and this form had led to many comparing him to some of the greats of the shortest format. Most of the comparisons were made to former South Africa captain AB de Villiers due to Suryakumar's tendency to reach almost all parts of the ground with innovative shots.
However, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria now thinks that Suryakumar is the "new Universe Boss", a tag that is usually used to describe West Indies legend Chris Gayle. Kaneria even went on to say that Suryakumar has surpassed Gayle and De Villiers.
The new Universe Boss is Suryakumar Yadav-the beast. Now what can I tell about this lad, even before I have said that a player like Suryakumar comes once in a lifetime. The innings which he played today, scoring 112 off 51, no one can replicate that,” Kaneria said.
"You can speak about ABD, Chris Gayle but even these two look pale infront of Surya. He has already eclipsed them and has taken T20 cricket to a whole new level,” he added.
De Villiers himself had said that the comparisons are legitimate. "Yes, they are [right in comparing Suryakumar with me]. The only thing he will have to concentrate on is his consistency," de Villiers had said. "He will have to do this for five to ten years and then he will find himself in the golden books of cricket players.
"Any player that gets into form... I think of quite a few guys who really start playing at the peak of their powers, that makes me very excited. Each sportsman for that matter, it's beautiful to watch when they are really free and having fun out there. Great to watch Surya play the way he is playing now."