Suryakumar Yadav was in pristine touch against the United States of America (USA). Commencing India’s T20 World Cup title defence, Suryakumar played a proper captain’s knock at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The Indian captain was the reason the Men in Blue claimed a 29-run victory over the USA. In the last 5 overs of the first innings, Suryakumar scored 48 runs from 18 balls. This was what proved to be the difference between a victory and defeat for Monank Patel’s team.
Suryakumar Yadav saves India
Harmeet Singh, who was the USA’s second-best bowler of the day, knows that India won just because of Suryakumar. The left-arm spinner, who dismissed Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, compared him to two former Indian captains, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, after his match-winning knock.
Suryakumar was left without batting partners after Axar departed, but much like Dhoni, he remained calm and composed. Then, he finished the innings on a high, scoring 32 runs in the last 2 overs.
“Of course, we used to imagine all that, but success came late for him. He was always… I think he has got the poise now, which MS Dhoni also had later in his career,” Harmeet said, as quoted by PTI.
The Indian captain knew one batter had to stay put. Just like Kohli used to anchor, Surya took the game to the end. He batted with 7 partners. At the beginning, he took his time. But then, he exploded when Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy joined him at the other end. Therefore, reading the match situation perfectly.
“The flair that he had as a stroke player – he played a sensible innings, and he finished the game and played a proper knock. The maturity which (players like) Virat have – he played a mature knock, and that is what happens with experience and (with) the kind of job he has been given. He is doing a great job,” Harmeet added.
