'SKY was toying with the bowlers': Former India player hails Suryakumar Yadav after RCB massacre

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As SKY rose, RCB set - this tagline was circulating around the social media for a long time on Tuesday after MI's stunning victory over RCB at the Wankhede Stadium.

Suryakumar Yadav helped the Paltans chase down 200 runs in just 16.3 overs, as the India batter decimated RCB bowlers with a knock of 83 runs off just 35 balls.

Suryakumar, who is popularly known as SKY, put the RCB bowlers to the sword and played an unstoppable inning. Even the RCB captain Faf du Plessis admired the brilliance of the batter after the match.

"He is one of the best when he gets going, it's difficult to shut him down," Du Plessis said after the match.

And with the same tone, former India player and IPL expert Sunil Gavaskar has hailed the Mumbai-born batter. Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar opined the MI player was 'toying' with the RCB bowlers and gave him a feeling of 'Gully Cricket' with his shot making.

"SKY was toying with the bowlers. He gives you a feeling of gully cricket when he's batting like that. He's just gotten better with practice and hard work," Gavaskar said.

The 32-year-old India player has an elite ability to play across all parts of the ground, and his scoops and flicks on the leg side have become a trademark shots associated with him. And Gavaskar reckoned bottom hand strength being the reason for his all-around ability.

"His bottom hand is so powerful that he uses it to perfection. Against RCB, he started with hitting towards long-on and long-off and later agricultured shots all around the park," he added.

SKY scored his 4th half-century in this season's IPL, all of which have come in the last six innings. The batter also racked up three fifties in MI's 200+ chases this season, which all have come in winning causes.

Despite a slow start to the season, Suryakumar has 376 runs in IPL 2023 so far, at an average of 34.2 and a mammoth 186.1 strike rate.