Suryakumar Yadav is considered one of the top T20I batters in the world for a reason. He played a crucial role in India’s recent victories at the 2024 T20 World Cup, scoring a second consecutive half-century against Afghanistan in India’s first Super 8 game. After the match, Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel had a playful breakdown of the game, which India won comfortably by 47 runs. They also shared a light-hearted moment about Suryakumar’s interaction with Virat Kohli during India’s batting innings.
SKY, as Suryakumar is fondly known, was asked by Axar about the advice Kohli had given him during a drinks’ break in the 10th over. Axar was curious because immediately after the break, SKY started slog-sweeping his way to a quick 53 off 28 balls.
“I thought 160 was a par score on this Barbados pitch. But I felt that if I could hit a few boundaries and build momentum after the break, it would benefit the next batsmen,” SKY explained.
Axar jokingly replied, “So you tricked Virat!”
“No, I didn’t trick him! I was just being myself,” Suryakumar responded with a laugh.
Prior to the match against Afghanistan, Suryakumar had talked about his ability to adapt to different conditions and play in various modes. Following his match-winning 50 against the USA, SKY lived up to his words by scoring at a strike rate of over 180 on a challenging Barbados pitch.
Suryakumar Yadav’s flamboyant innings, supported by contributions from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, led India to a total of 180 in 20 overs, a score that proved too much for Afghanistan to chase down.
Jasprit Bumrah continued his impressive form, taking three wickets for seven runs in his four overs, bringing his total wicket tally in the 2024 T20 World Cup to eight.
India’s next match is against Bangladesh on Saturday, June 22, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
@Cricbun
