India’s flamboyant batter Suryakumar Yadav put on a stellar show as he guided team India to a five-wicket win in their first T20I match against New Zealand. This was SKY’s third fifty-plus score in his T20I career of nine games for India.
.@surya_14kumar played a brilliant 6⃣2⃣-run knock in the run-chase and won the Man of the Match award. ?#TeamIndia #INDvNZ @Paytm
Scorecard
https://t.co/5lDM57TI6f pic.twitter.com/d9cx6oAqzS
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2021
Suryakumar walked in to bat at number 3 and added a 59-run stand with the new skipper Rohit Sharma to anchor team India’s run chase, scoring 62 off 40 balls. Though, both the stylish cricketers played crucial knocks but they failed to take their team to a win. 10 runs were required in the final over and it was Rishabh Pant who scored the winning runs for team India in the last over thriller to take the team 1-0 in the ongoing 3 matches T20I series.
After the match, during the post-match conference, Suryakumar Yadav was asked about how he has settled his role by batting at number 3 for India. Responding to the question, SKY hailed the former T20I skipper Virat Kohli who allowed him to bat at number 3 for India in the recently-concluded T20i World Cup 2021 encounter against Namibia. He appreciated his gesture towards him and said:
“I still remember when I made my batting debut, he was the one who sacrificed his position and let me go at No. 3 when I played against England and he batted at 4. It was the same thing. He asked whether I want to go in so that I get some World Cup game time. It was really nice of him and I enjoyed coming back not out in that game.”
The kind of start we wanted ??
Onto the next one ? pic.twitter.com/nxpL3JeH9t— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) November 17, 2021
SKY went on to score an unbeaten 25 off 19 against Namibia in the T20I World Cup clash as India chased down the target by 9 wickets with 28 balls remaining.
Further, talking about his batting position, SKY said t he is happy to bat anywhere the team required him to. He said:
“It’s not like I want to bat at any specific position. I am happy to bat anywhere. I have been batting at the No. 3 position for my franchise for the last three years so it was nothing different for me. I just go out and express myself, the way I do in the nets. I have followed the same process for the last 2-3 years. I don’t try and do anything different. I just want to go out and enjoy myself.”
Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team will be locking their horns with New Zealand in 2nd T20I match tonight in Jaipur.
