KKR pacer Vaibhav Arora was asked to pick the toughest batter to bowl to. The Knight Riders batter identified the Mumbai Indians batter, Suryakumar Yadav, as the toughest batter he has bowled to, sidelining the likes of Virat Kohli or Abhishek Sharma.
Suryakumar Yadav started off his career at the Kolkata Knight Riders and won trophies with them before he moved to the Mumbai Indians. The batter hails from Mumbai and has stunned all with his dynamic talent in the shortest format of the game.
Suryakumar found his real talent when he moved to the Mumbai Indians, and they promoted him to open the innings. Mahela Jayawardene handled him carefully over the season, and he won two trophies with the franchise.
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KKR pacer picks MI batter as the toughest to bowl to
Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Vaibhav Arora was seen in a recent podcast with Subhankar Mishra, where the show host questioned him on the ‘toughest batter to bowl to.’
The KKR pacer did not hesitate much, nor did he think much, as he picked former KKR star and current Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav as the toughest opponent batter to bowl to.
He said, “I think, Sir, that will be Suryakumar Yadav for me. It is against him that I have to think a lot, since he can play in all the corners of the ground. Field planning against him is a very tough job.”
“I have to think a lot while bowling to him, which field should I set for him, where should I position the fielders, and what delivery should I bowl against such a field? He can hit shots in all four directions,” he added.
Vaibhav Arora reveals what made Suryakumar Yadav a dynamic strokemaker
After Subhankar Mishra also agreed to the fact that Suryakumar Yadav is a very dynamic batsman and is a staunch strokemaker, he asked the KKR pacer what, according to him, made him the modern-day great he is.
The show host asked, “How do you think batters like him manage to develop these skills? Does he not fear that the ball might hit him on his face or somewhere else?”
“He has practiced that much. I heard him saying something during an interview, where he had mentioned that previously, when he came in, he also used to bat with the conventional shots, but then later he went on to develop these special shots.
“He then felt the need to play some different shots, and he started playing these shots. He worked hard, and his hard work paid off as he performed using his unique stroke play. Having practiced so much, he can easily play them on the field,” the KKR pacer added.
Suryakumar Yadav’s promising IPL stats
Suryakumar Yadav started his IPL career with the Mumbai Indians back in 2012, but played just one IPL game without scoring a single run. However, his main stint came with the Kolkata Knight Riders between 2014 and 2017, when he played as a lower-order batter.
He failed to bounce back to the top of the order, but was immediately given a new role at the top of the order for the Mumbai Indians in 2018. Having his best IPL season first up, Surya became a constant run-getter for them.
Two of the best seasons for the MI batter came in 2023 and 2025, when the batter excelled with the bat and scored 605 and 717 runs, respectively. The batter has also amassed two centuries in IPL history.
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