Suryakumar Yadav was the last man standing for India against England in the third and final T20I of the series. The hosts had gotten their tails up in the match after scoring a massive total of 215/7 in their 20 overs.
The challenge to Indian batsmen to complete the run-chase only got worse when the top three batsmen in Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma were sent back to the pavilion inside the first five overs and with only 31 runs on the board.
In came Suryakumar Yadav, who not only changed the face of the game, but exhibited the most blatant resilience against an English attack who had put India’s back to the corner. With a multitude of elegant strokes and a fluency to chase down the target, Suryakumar Yadav slammed a jaw-dropping century.
He single-handedly kept India in the match and took the game deep. Although he eventually got dismissed for 117 off 55 deliveries, with his innings including 14 boundaries and six sixes, it goes without saying that his knock attracted plenty of plaudits from fans as well as experts.
One man, who has seen Suryakumar Yadav evolve from a talented batsman to an accomplished run-scorer to finally breaking the door down to get to the Indian team and then proving his worth on the biggest stage is his Mumbai Indians and Team India captain Rohit Sharma.
“I thought it was a fantastic chase although we fell short. We are proud of the fight. Surya was magnificent to watch. I have been watching him for a while now. Loves this format, has wide range of shots. He has grown from strength to strength since we got him into the squad,” captain Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation.
With his brazen and stylish knock, Suryakumar also became the fifth Indian batter to reach the three-figure-mark in the shortest format of the game. Only Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, and Deepak Hooda, who joined the club with his recent ton against Ireland, have scored centuries in this format before Suryakumar, who took just 48 balls to bring up his maiden T20I century.
He is also only the second Indian to score a century batting at number 4 or below after KL Rahul, who had also reached the three-figure mark from the number 4 position against West Indies in Lauderhill.
