Roelof van der Merwe on the one Indian player he would like to have in his SA20 team: “At the moment, you’ve got to go with SKY”

Sunrisers Eastern Cape left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe has stated that, given a chance, he would like to have Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav as part of his SA20 franchise. According to Van der Merwe, no one is hitting the ball better than SKY at the moment.

The 38-year-old has been in impressive form in the inaugural edition of SA20. In fact, he is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, having claimed 14 wickets in six matches at an average of 7.78 and an economy rate of 4.73. The Dutch bowler registered superb figures of 6/20 in the clash against Durban’s Super Giants.

In a select media interaction, the left-arm spinner was asked which Indian cricketer he would like to have in his SA20 team. Van der Merwe was quick to respond:

“At the moment, you’ve got to go with SKY, the way he is hitting the ball, it’s got to be him at the moment.”

Suryakumar was the leading run-getter in T20Is in 2022, smashing 1164 runs from 31 matches at an average of 46.56 and a strike rate of 187.43, with two hundreds and nine fifties. For his exploits, he was also named ICC Men’s T20I Player of 2022.

As per BCCI rules, active Indian players are not allowed to feature in overseas cricket leagues and can only take part in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

During the discussion, Van der Merwe also hailed young South African batter Tristan Stubbs as an unbelievable striker of the ball. Asked for his views on the 22-year-old dasher, the left-arm spinner replied:

“He is an unbelievable player. You can’t compare them (younger generation) to anyone. They are hitting the ball miles. Guys like him, (Donovan) Ferreira; they just take the game away. The likes of AB de Villiers, they constructed innings and shifted gears, but these players just go from ball one.”

Stubbs has played a few handy cameos for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20, which included an unbeaten 27 off 13 in the 124-run win over Durban's Super Giants.

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“I do think he can do that” - Roelof van der Merwe on whether Kohli can score 100 hundreds

During the media interaction, van der Merwe, who has represented South Africa in the past, was also asked if he felt Virat Kohli had it in him to score 100 international hundreds. The 38-year-old asserted:

“Obviously, Virat’s a great player and yes, I do think he can do that. Hundred centuries will be at the back of his mind. He will be motivated to keep going.”

Kohli, 34, is currently second on the list of players with the most international hundreds, having notched up 74 three-figure scores.