Parthiv Patel hails "T20 legend" Suryakumar Yadav's stunning return to form

The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand could witness Suryakumar continuing his recent run of fine form after a slump that lasted 23 innings, during which he failed to score even a single fifty and averaged 13.62. Now with 171 runs in three innings, including two back-to-back fifties, Surya of the old has arrived and leads the run-charts. He is also just 41 runs away from becoming the third Indian with 3,000 T20I runs.

Speaking on 'Game Plan', Parthiv said that when one is not in the form, they get desperate for runs and look to play their favourite shots, and the strategy might not pay off when one is out of form. Suryakumar just needed take a bit of time, and he did just that, becoming a "completely different player".

"If you want to get back in form, you have to give yourself time. You are desperate for runs, and in that desperation, you go for your favourite shot. For Suryakumar Yadav, that is playing across the line. But when you are out of form, it doesn't come off. Once you get that form back, you can play those shots again, which he has done for a while in T20 cricket. He needed to give himself time, and he did. He looked like a completely different player in the last two games of the series against New Zealand because he took time to settle down at the crease and once he understood that, he pulled the trigger and started playing aggressively," he said.

Parthiv went on to call Surya a T20 legend and pointed to his ability to take "calculated risks and making big scores"

"He knows how to score runs and take calculated risks to make big scores. He spent time at the crease in the first game, facing 22 balls. In the second game, he started with 10 runs off his first 10 deliveries, then went on to make 82. That is what confidence can do. We know Suryakumar Yadav is full of self-belief. Just one innings changed him, and he looked like a completely different player," he concluded.

So far in 102 T20Is and 96 innings, Suryakumar has made 2,959 runs at an average of 36.98 and a strike rate of 165.03, with four centuries and 23 fifties and best score of 117. Currently, he stands just behind Indian icons Rohit Sharma (4,231 runs in 159 matches at an average of 32.05, strike rate of 140.89, including five centuries and 32 fifties) and Virat Kohli (4,188 runs in 125 matches at an average of 48.69, strike rate of 137.04, with a century and 38 fifties) in the country's all-time T20I charts.

Only 11 batters have touched the 3,000 run mark in the format, and Rohit stands at the top of this pile of superstars.

- ANI