Former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara on Sunday night when arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) square off in the IPL 2024 ‘El Clasico’ Kudos to MI batsman Suryakumar Yadav for his brilliant batting performance on return from the tournament which was stopped due to injury. Also shared his insights on the upcoming showdown between Yadav and CSK spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Lara began by praising the Chennai spinner’s fine skills and pointed out that he relies on slower balls in most matches.

The former West Indies cricketer told Star Sports Cricket Live: “Yes, it’s a battle but you know, well, these are some of the statistics that you pull out. I mean , he could fail in those moments, but I mean, if he’s willing to give in and say, OK, I’ll fight you later, he can do that too.”

“But I believe in his confidence, whether it’s left-arm spin or left-arm speed, whatever you want to call it, I think he’s going to throw slower balls in most battles. When you have to really speed up the ball, It’s always dangerous, you like speed on the ball so you can chip it in different directions,” he said.

Additionally, the West Indian also highlighted expectations of an interesting fight against Suryakumar, hinting that it will be a fight worth keeping an eye on.

Suryakumar, who missed the first three games of MI due to a lengthy absence due to an ankle injury and sports hernia surgery, joined the Mumbai squad for the match against Delhi Capitals but sat out the match.

But the batsman returned to his best form in the next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and smashed 52 off 19 balls, the joint second-fastest fifty for MI.

Lara was in awe of the 33-year-old batsman’s performance after returning from a long layoff, noting that he had never seen such a shot from someone who had just returned from injury.

“But what I saw from Surya Kumar Yadav a few days ago was nothing but talent. I don’t think I’ve seen that from a guy who’s just come back from injury, or at least in the first half. “The performance in the last game was outstanding and I think Surya Kumar Yadav is going to have a good game. ” Laura added.

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