Suryakumar Yadav has been in good touch in international cricket since making his debut earlier this year. He was named in the Indian touring party for the tour of Sri Lanka where he has scored vital runs so far. He yet again came with an important contribution during the opening T20I against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Suryakumar scored a stroke-filled fifty in the first T20I and took India’s total to 164/5 in 20 overs. He provided Indian innings much needed boost and helped them to post a competitive total on board.
He came to bat at number four after Sanju Samson got out in the seventh over. He immediately started playing his shots. The wristy flicks and inside-out shots were on display throughout his stay at the crease.
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In the process, he stitched a 62-run stand with Shikhar Dhawan for the third wicket. The latter got out after scoring 46 runs in 36 balls but Surya kept going.
He notched up his second T20I fifty with a massive six but got out on the very next ball. Wanindu Hasaranga dismissed him with some brave bowling. Surya scored 50 runs off 34 balls, where he hit five fours and two sixes.
Twitter erupted with praises for SKY. Here are some of those tweets;
Absolutely top innings from @surya_14kumar. On a slow track, he had to create shots and it was a very inventive innings.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 25, 2021
Varun’s debut is such a lovely story. As he makes his debut there will be other young cricketers who are playing TNPL currently who are inspired by his journey to represent the country. Both DK and Ashwin have backed him throughout and he Would be very useful in the t20 WC.
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) July 25, 2021
This Chahal wicket belongs to #VarunChakravarthy . In the last over he tied the Lankan batsmen and cramped them. Its the pressure created by him that led Dhananjaya to play that shot. Hunting in pairs. #Cricket #CricketTwitter
— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) July 25, 2021
After the break, if only five overs of batting is possible for Sri Lanka, their target will be – 54 in 5 overs.
If no play is possible after Sri Lanka bats five overs they then need to reach: 32/0, 36/1, 42/2, 49/3, 59/4, 72/5.#INDvSL #SLvIND— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 25, 2021
Indians with a golden duck on T20I debut
– KL Rahul in 2016
(in 2016, scored a 100* on his ODI debut!)– Prithvi Shaw in 2021
(in 2018, scored 134 on his Test debut!)#INDvSL #SLvInd— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 25, 2021
Just looking at the Indian team for today, it is clear that Chahal is above Chahar in the pecking order for the T20 World Cup at the moment.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 25, 2021
Team India failed to enforce a good finish to their innings and managed 164/5 in 20 overs. Prithvi Shaw and Varun Chakravarthy were making their debuts with this game. Shaw bagged a golden duck on his debut with the first ball of the game.
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Sanju Samson looked good but threw yet another start. Dhawan and Suryakumar’s innings brought back some normalcy but both got out before the death overs. Hardik Pandya looked out of touch in death overs and couldn’t provide the final flourish. Ishan Kishan, batting at number six, scored 20 runs in 14 balls including one four and one six.