Adelaide, Nov 9: A free mindset has helped Suryakumar Yadav emerge as the “batter of the tournament” but it takes “one chance to create a wicket”, said England captain Jos Buttler ahead of their T20 World Cup semifinal against India on Thursday.
Suryakumar has already scored three fifties in five games in the tournament and popular belief is that he has outshone the great Virat Kohli on certain occasions.
“He’s been great to watch, hasn’t he. I think he’s someone who has probably been the batter of the tournament so far in terms of the way you want to watch someone go about it,” Buttler told reporters on Wednesday.
“But as with any batsman in the world, it takes one chance to create a wicket. We desperately need to find a way to do that,” he added.
Buttler thinks that his biggest asset is the freedom with which he expresses himself.
“His biggest strength looks to be the amount of freedom he plays with. He’s obviously got all the shots but he allows himself to play all the shots, as well. He’s got a very free mindset from what I can see,” the England skipper said.
While praising Suryakumar, Buttler didn’t forget to mention that his team can’t afford to just think about him. “It would be a remiss just to think about him. I think they have some other excellent players, as well.”
Buttler has been dismissed five times in T20Is by Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has conceded only 30 runs off his 32 balls to the England skipper.
However, Buttler seemed confident ahead of his face-off with Bhuvneshwar at the Adelaide Oval. “I certainly don’t fear anyone. I always prepare well, and I look to play the ball in front of me and not the bowler,” he said.
Buttler also outrightly dismissed the theory that India no longer look a formidable side. “No, not at all. I think India is a very, very strong team. I think Indian teams have been consistently strong for a long period of time, and naturally so with the amount of depth and talent that is in the Indian game.”
While 165 has been a par score at the Adelaide Oval for teams batting first, Buttler doesn’t want to rely on numbers alone.
“If we set first, we want to post a score that can’t be chased, and obviously we’ll be confident to chase anything down batting second,” he gave a linear answer.
“Historically, I think if you look at the stats, it shows about 165 is around the par score here, but I’m not really interested in a par score, I’m interested in a winning score tomorrow,” he concluded. (PTI)
