India powered their way into the semifinals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup as group toppers in the Super 12 stage after winning their last group match against Zimbabwe by a mammoth 71 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After Rohit Sharma chose to bat, KL Rahul continued his new found form and scored 51 runs in 35 balls to set the perfect foundation for the team.
But three quick wickets in the span of two overs pegged the Indians back. It was at this stage that Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya got together and the duo shared a 65-run stand to help the team reach a total of 186/5.
Hardik played the second fiddle as he eventually got out for 18 off 18 balls. The top ranked T20I batter in world, Suryakumar Yadav, put on a show of his 360 degree batting, as he hit 4 sixes and 6 boundaries to remain unbeaten on 61 off just 25 deliveries,
This is Suryakumar's third half-century of the tournament. Speaking to former India head coach Ravi Shastri after the match, Suryakumar spoke about the discussion he and Hardik had when they got together in the middle.
"It's very important that when a partner is coming in to bat and he just brushes your shoulder with lot of positivity. We just spoke one thing at that time, 'If it is a knock-out game, 14th-15th over, 4-5 wickets down and we need to get about 60-65 runs in 5 overs. So, what do we do?'.
"That's where we decided let's take a positive route. If we don't land up there and get 60-65 runs then no problem but if we do then we can try it on the big stage," Suryakumar said.
India take on England in the second semifinal of the tournament on Friday in Adelaide.