"He reminded me of Viv Richards" Navjot Singh Sidhu's high praise for Suryakumar Yadav's sweep shot off Omarzai during AFG vs IND clash

Suryakumar Yadav unleashed an array of sweeps in his 53 (28) against Afghanistan in Barbados.

Former India batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu gave a huge compliment to Suryakumar Yadav by saying that the India star’s sweep shot against Azmatullah Omarzai in the IND vs AFG match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 reminded him of the great Sir Viv Richards.

After a 49-ball half-century against the USA, Suryakumar was at his aggressive best against Afghanistan on Thursday in Barbados in their Super 8 match, notching up a 27-ball fifty which eventually helped India win by 47 runs.

India found themselves in a tricky position at 90/4 but Suryakumar and Hardik Pandya’s stand of 60 (37) took the side to 181. Yadav stroked five fours and three sixes in his innings, a majority of them coming through an array of sweep shots, targeting the region from fine leg to mid-wicket.

A sweep shot against pacer Azmatullah Omarzai left everyone stunned. On the second ball of the 13th over, Yadav picked a low full toss delivered by Omarzai from way outside the off-stump and swept it to the deep square leg boundary.

It was a sensational shot that Yadav played after assessing the plan of Omarzai through a packed off-side field. Yadav anticipated a delivery outside the off-stump. His execution was outstanding; few batters in the world could pick up a ball from this far away from the off-stump and deposit it on the deep square-leg fence.

Navjot Singh Sidhu heaps praise on Suryakumar Yadav

Navjot Sidhu was so astonished by this shot from the Indian number 4 that he likened Yadav to Viv Richards.

Speaking on Star Sports, Sidhu said, “That would have been a wide ball had he stood in his original stance. But to fetch a wide delivery from offside and place in on the on side for a four. It reminded me of Vivan Richards.”

Check out Sidhu’s praise for Suryakumar here:

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