‘Would not compare him to Bumrah, but he is there’: Vihari on Prince

"Prince Yadav is bowling the important overs," observed Vihari

Prince Yadav in action. (FILE photo)

Prince Yadav has been quite superb with his bowling in the recent T20I series. While the scores have been quite high, he has managed to keep his nerve not just in the early overs but in the middle and final overs as well. His execution of yorkers has been extraordinary against batters who were smelling blood in the final overs of the innings. Indian cricketer Hanuma Vihari would say he is still not as good as India’s ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah but he is on the way to get there.

“Prince Yadav is bowling the important overs. I think he is one bowler who will serve Indian cricket for a long time, especially in the white-ball format. I would not compare him to Bumrah, but he is there. He is getting there. He is creating impact. He has got a good yorker and can be a death-overs specialist,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.

In addition to praising Prince, Vihari also spoke about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was slotted at number three instead of opening the batting in the second T20I. This did not work out very well, but when he was sent back to his opening number in the third T20I alongside Abhishek Sharma, the teenager blasted out the Kiwi attack in the powerplay, scoring 118 runs.

“I think Vaibhav Suryavanshi opening was a really good move. If Ishan is not playing and you play Suryavanshi, his best spot is to open. He struggled in the middle in the last game,” he said.

“What will happen in the next game? Will they drop Samson? Will they drop Vaibhav? I still feel Vaibhav has time. Let Samson play. He is showing consistency now. In the last couple of series, he is scoring fifties in every alternate game. So I think that should be the thought process,” he added.

However, the team management has decided to drop Sooryavanshi after Ishan Kishan is fit to play.