During the ninth match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils at Mumbai, Indians’ makeshift opener Suryakumar Yadav scored his second IPL half-century in an effort which also helped his team to score its highest ever powerplay score in the IPL.

Yadav, who had impressed one and all with his innings in the first two matches, replaced captain Rohit Sharma at the top of the order today. After getting off the mark with a double off Trent Boult, Yadav hit his first boundary in the first over itself.

A mis-field by Glenn Maxwell on the first delivery of the second over saw Yadav scoring his second four. The right-hand batsman followed it with a couple of fours against Boult in the second over. On the first ball of the fifth over, Yadav welcomed Mohammad Shami with a pull which ended up being a six.

He followed it with another four through the third-man region. To add misery to Shami’s over, Yadav dispatched the last ball of the over, a full toss, through the mid-wicket region for four.

By the end of the poweprlay, Mumbai Indians had raced to 84-0. Out of which, Yadav had scored 41* (20). On the fourth ball of the 10th over, with a couple of runs off Glenn Maxwell, Yadav registered his second IPL half-century. Yadav was out lbw to Rahul Tewatia in the following over. He chose to opt for a review, but even that couldn’t save him.

Yadav ended up scoring a splendid 53 (32) with the help of seven fours and a six. With the way that he has played in this match, Mumbai Indians are likely to continue with him as an opener in the tournament.