It was as if Suryakumar Yadav was batting on another pitch, a different one from the other Indian batters when the Men In Blue came up against a fired-up South African fast bowling attack on a spicy Perth pitch on Sunday for their Super 12 round game in the T20 World Cup 2022.
After batting their full quota of 20 overs, India labored to post 133 on the board, out of which Suryakumar Yadav alone scored 68 off 40 balls, striking at a terrific rate of 170, while no other Indian batsman could score more than 15! Only two batters apart from Suryakumar got into double figures, and there were 8 extras.
None of the other Indian batsmen could handle the fiery of the South African fast bowlers on the bouncy Perth pitch. But, one man, THE man, Suryakumar Yadav, stood up, batted with aplomb and waged a lone battle.
India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first on the fast, bouncy Optus Stadium surface against a potent, world-class South African pace attack. The Protea seamers turned on the heat and breathed fire, having India reeling at 49/5 in 9 overs with Suryakumar Yadav left for anyone to stand with him.
Although Dinesh Karthik scores only 6 runs off 15 balls, he gave Suryakumar some support and stood with him in a partnership of 52 runs off 40 balls of which Suryakumar alone scored 44. Suryakumar raised his fifty and played some aggressive shots toward the end. All in, he hit 6 fours and 3 sixes in his innings, taking India to 133, giving the bowlers something to bowl at.
Morne Morkel impressed with Suryakumar Yadav’s heroics
Former South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel was impressed with the valiant effort put in by Suryakumar Yadav with the bat in Perth. Morkel praised Suryakumar Yadav with a tweet in Hindi.
“Bahut badhiya Sky… #SuryakumarYadav,” Morne Morkel tweets lauding SKY’s terrific knock.
Here is the tweet from Morne Morkel that’s gone viral:
Bahut badhiya Sky… #SuryakumarYadav 👌🏻👌🏻
— Morne Morkel (@mornemorkel65) October 30, 2022
