Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody compares Suryakumar Yadav with legendary Viv Richards

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody has heaped massive praise on India batter Suryakumar Yadav and drew comparisons with West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards. Suryakumar, the current World No.1 batter in the T20Is, has backed himself with some breath-taking performances for the national side recently. 

The flamboyant right-hander smashed 51 and an unbeaten 112 runs in the second and third T20Is respectively against Sri Lanka in the ongoing series. Known for terrorizing the rival bowling unit and dispatching the ball all over the park, the batter earned massive praise from former Australia cricketer Tom Moody.

"Suryakumar Yadav, just the way he plays, it's breath-taking. It reminds me so much of... when I was a young cricketer, watching the likes of Vivian Richards. The player who just seems to be in control of the game single-handedly,” Moody was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.

The batter became the leading run scorer for the calendar year 2022 with 1164 runs in 31 innings and has kickstarted 2023 with a bang, having already registered one century and a half-century to his name in 3 innings.

Suryakumar Yadav earns a spot in the red-ball squad against Australia

Following the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand later this month, India will take up their next red-ball assignment against Australia. Suryakumar has been called up to don the "Whites" for the national side for the first two matches of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Suryakumar might get a chance to make it to the XI in the Test series on back of his stunning shows in the T20Is. The series is scheduled to begin on February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. 

India’s squad for first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), K L Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, K S Bharat (w/k), Ishan Kishan (w/k), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.