Suryakumar Yadav or SKY has been one of the most consistent cricketers in the world in white-ball cricket. On Thursday, the in-form India batter once again produced a masterclass against the Netherlands to give the Men in Blue a comfortable 56-run victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). After India lost skipper Rohit Sharma for 53, Suryakumar Yadav joined Virat Kohli in the middle, and immediately showed his full repertoire of shots, smashing a whirlwind unbeaten 51 off 25 balls. In the process, Suryakumar Yadav went past Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan to become the leading run-getter in T20Is in 2022. While Mohammad Rizwan has 825 runs to his name in 19 knocks this year, Suryakumar Yadav has now scored 867 runs in 25 innings. Though Mohammad Rizwan has scored his runs at an average of 49.35, and Suryakumar Yadav at 41.28, the difference between their strike rates is massive. Notably, Suryakumar Yadav has accumulated his runs at a strike rate of 184.86. On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan has collected his runs at a strike rate of 123.74.

Besides going past Mohammad Rizwan, Suryakumar Yadav struck the fourth-fastest fifty for India in the T20 World Cup. The other names ahead of him on the list are Yuvraj Singh, and KL Rahul.

Yuvraj Singh, in fact, holds the world record for the fastest fifty in any format of the game, having slammed a 12-ball half-century against England in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.

KL Rahul, on the other hand, smashed a fifty off 18 deliveries against Scotland in the same tournament held in the UAE last year.

Yuvraj Singh also has a 20-ball fifty to his name in the T20 World Cup when made 70 off 30 balls against Australia in 2007.

Suryakumar Yadav's knock didn't go unnoticed on social media with several netizens taking to Twitter to praise the 31-year-old India batter.

 

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Rohit Sharma, Preity Zinta, Punjab Kings, PBKS, Mumbai Indians, MI, IPL, Indian Premier League,

Pawan Atri ·

Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Chennai Super Kings, CSK, Mumbai Indians, MI, IPL, Indian Premier League, MS Dhoni, Punjab Kings, PBKS, Akash Madhwal,

Pawan Atri ·

Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Chennai Super Kings, CSK, Mumbai Indians, MI, IPL, Indian Premier League, MS Dhoni, Punjab Kings, PBKS, Akash Madhwal,

Pawan Atri ·

Even Suryakumar was elated with his show against the Dutch side.

“Batting at four, there are two situations, one in which the team has lost early wickets and scored less or has scored a lot and lost some wickets. In the first instance we need to stabilise and then I have to chase a tempo, in the second I have to be in that tempo immediately, either way getting to that tempo of scoring is important,” Suryakumar Yadav said while picking up the Man of the Match award at the post-match press conference.

“I was just trying to express myself when I went into bat. The situation was very simple, I just had to up the tempo at that time. I took one ball today (to get going), but the message was loud and clear. We had to get about 8-10 an over and get a total which our bowlers could defend easily. Very happy with the way things went. Really enjoying batting with him (Kohli), the thoughts are very clear when we both are batting. If I get few boundaries earlier then our partnership needs to be stretched and that’s what we are doing,” he added.

“We respect each other and have a camaraderie and plus he will give inputs like what delivery is the bowler likely to bowl and batting with him also means that you got to run hard. I look forward to more partnerships with him,” Suryakumar Yadav said about his blossoming on-field friendship with India talisman Virat Kohli.

India captain Rohit Sharma called India's win “clinical”. Though he was happy with the way the Men in Blue performed against the Netherlands in Sydney, he was disappointed with the manner of dismissal in the game.

After passing a testing phase at the start of the Indian innings, Rohit Sharma settled down nicely to score a brilliant 53 off 39 deliveries.

“Lucky for us, we had a few days to get over that special win. As soon as the game got over, we came to Sydney and regrouped. We have to move on now, and the focus was on this game where we wanted to come out and get those two points. I thought it was a clinical win. Looking at the way they have qualified for the Super 12s, credit to them. We however always looked to what we can do with ourselves, not bother about the opposition. To be honest, this was a near perfect win. Yes, we played a little slow at the start but that was the conversation between me and Virat, we had to wait on that surface to play the big shots. Not too happy with my fifty, but what's important is getting runs – doesn't matter if they are good looking runs or ugly runs. At the end of the day, it is about keeping the confidence up,” Rohit Sharma said after India's second consecutive victory in the T20 World Cup.