"Miles apart from anything else we saw today" - Tim Southee on Suryakumar Yadav's hundred in second T20I against New Zealand

Veteran New Zealand seamer Tim Southee heaped praise on India's Suryakumar Yadav following the latter's scintillating hundred in the second T20I at Mount Maunganui on Sunday, November 20. The right-arm seamer felt it proved to be the difference between the two teams and put the total beyond New Zealand's reach.

Yadav hammered his second T20I ton off 49 deliveries and remained unbeaten on 111 off 51 balls to propel India to a match-winning total of 191-6 in 20 overs. The right-handed batter hit 11 fours and seven sixes, looking head and shoulders above the other Indian batters.

Speaking at a post-match press conference, Southee felt Yadav's knock was 'miles apart' from anything at Mount Maunganui on Sunday as it made all the difference.

As quoted by Cricbuzz, Southee said:

"Anytime a T20 player gets a hundred in a match, it's quite often the difference. You look at the rest of the side and the way we sort of batted, his innings was miles apart from anything else we saw today. Probably made them get to a score that was probably a little bit more than what we were hoping for.

"It was an exceptional innings and it was the difference between restricting India to 175-180 and then getting above 190."

Southee reflected that the Indian batter has been consistent for a long time now and underlined the need to come up with new plans in Napier. He continued:

"He's a player that can hit you and hurt you in a number of areas. He's had a great 12-18 months in IPL, international cricket. Came up against a pretty impressive knock today. The guys will reassess and come up with something for Napier. Sky's had a great 12 months.

"It's there for him to continue to do so and continue to play the way he has. But you look at guys that have played for a long period of time and achieved so much over a long period of time ... India have always produced amazing cricketers not only in T20 cricket but across all three formats."

Yadav made his T20I debut in 2021 and has had a memorable 2022. He entered the T20 World Cup 2022 as the number one-ranked batter in the format and finished as the tournament's third-highest run-getter.

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"Anytime it looked like it was about to get going, we lost a wicket" - Tim Southee

Tim Southee bagged figures of 4-0-34-3. (Credits: Getty)

Southee, who took his second T20I hat-trick, also credited India's bowling display for striking regularly and felt they needed a partnership to blunt that target down. He added:

"That's probably the way to sum it up - never really got going. Anytime it looked like it was about to get going, we lost a wicket. That's credit to the way India bowled. They had a decent score on the board. If you're able to take regular wickets and early wickets, then that makes that score even bigger. Just not able to get going and when you're chasing a score like that, you need to blunt it with a decent partnership at some stage."

Kane Williamson scored a 52-ball 61, but that was not enough to prevent a 65-run loss. The Black Caps will look to level the three-game series in Napier during the third T20I on Tuesday, November 22.