Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has lauded Suryakumar Yadav for not changing his batting approach despite becoming captain of India. South Africa beat India by five wickets via DLS in the second T20I to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

India’s tour of South Africa: Full Coverage

​Suryakumar scored a brilliant half-century to guide India to 180 for 7 in 19.3 over before rain stopped play. The hosts were given a revised target of 152 runs, which they chased down in 13.5 overs, with seven balls and five wickets remaining.

Speaking to Star Sports after the match, Steyn said Suryakumar has got a lot of shots in the book and makes batting look really easy. Suryakumar scored 56 runs off 36 balls, hitting five boundaries and three sixes.

“We spoke about him just after the break. He’s got a lot of shots, and he makes it look real easy. Sometimes it’s a burden being a captain. There’s a lot that you have to think of, and it can sometimes change the way in which you play your game,” said Steyn.

He went on to laud Suryakumar to not changing his style and approach towards batting despite becoming captain of India’s T20I side. Suryakumar went level with Virat Kohli to become the joint-fastest Indian to reach the 2000-run mark in T20I cricket, getting there in just 56 innings.

“He walked out there at six for two and he was still able to continue striking it for almost 200. That shows you that he’s not going to change the style in which he scores his runs. He’s not going to change the approach. And that looks like a good thing for India going forward because you know that he’s always going to be aggressive and the opposition are not going to be able to run in there and do what they want to do,” Steyn added.

Following their loss in the second T20I, India will gear up to face the Proteas in the third match of the series, set to be played at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on December 14.