India is set to face England in the second semifinal clash of the T20 World Cup 2022 on Thursday. Ahead of the game, England's star player Ben Stokes is confident in their bowling attack to contain the rampaging Suryakumar Yadav.
England's top all-rounder is cautiously optimistic about his team's chances in the mega clash.
"Suryakumar obviously came in and set the world alight. He is a fantastic player and plays some shots where you sort of just scratch the head sometimes.
"He is in great form, but hopefully, we can try and shut him down and not allow him to get on one of his rampages," Stokes expressed.
Suryakumar Yadav's performance in the T20 World Cup 2022
- Matches played: 5
- Runs scored: 225
- Highest score: 68
- Strike-rate: 193.96
- 4s/6s: 25/8
- 50s/100s: 3/0
Stokes showered praise for Indian legend Virat Kohli, who he thinks has "earned the right to be never written off".
Talking about Kohli, Stokes said, "I think with Virat he could have four unbelievable years like he had, and then have a not so loud couple of months and then for some reason plays like that and gets written off, we have got no idea why. I think he has earned the right to never be written off."
As far as Kohli is concerned, his numbers speak for itself, he added.
"You don't produce the numbers and produce the innings that he (Kohli) does in all three formats and it's fine. We as players and people who play against him a lot, we never take anything he has done in the game before into the game we have got here," said Stokes.
'We are facing a very strong Indian team'
Stokes admitted that England have reached the semi-finals without "playing their best cricket" so far but on a big day, against a good Indian team, that wouldn't be the case.
"I think the way we have managed to get through not playing our best cricket so far and now we find ourselves here. So obviously it's exciting.
"But we know we need to get this game done on Thursday, against a very strong Indian team which no one will ever take lightly," Stokes put things as they are.
"This is because of the team they are and the players that they have in their squad. But we like to focus more on our squad and not think too much about them."
In fact, he also didn't want to read too much into opposition skipper Rohit Sharma's lean run with the bat.
"The likes of Rohit, they are world-class players. You can't take (assume) anything from what he has performed in the previous game because you have seen him do it many a time (in big games).
"He is one of the best to play the game, especially in this format. We won't be taking him lightly at all."
