India's own Mr. 360 Suryakumar Yadav proved yet again why he is the No. 1 T20 batter in the world, scoring a brilliant half-century as the team thwarted the Afghanistan challenge in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 clash on Thursday. Suryakumar came out to bat when the likes of Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant had departed early. The batter orchestrated a brilliant partnership with Hardik Pandya to take India to 181 runs in 20 overs. In the process, Surya also matched a World Record that was held by Virat Kohli.
Courtesy of Surya's 28-ball 53, India defeated Afghanistan by 47 runs in the match. As a result, the middle-order batter was named the Player of the Match, for the 15th time in the history of T20 international cricket. Incidentally, that's also the all-time record, held by Kohli. While Surya is now level with the India great on the record, he did so in nearly half the innings.
Most POTM awards in T20Is:
Suryakumar Yadav - 15 (61 innings)
Virat Kohli - 15 (113 innings)
Surya, the world's No. 1-ranked T20I batter, played his traditional shots, barely leaving an inch on the ground untouched.
"That's what I have practiced, I enjoy batting from overs 7-15 because that's the most difficult phase where the opposition bowlers look to control things. I like to take charge in that phase, I enjoy it," Surya told the broadcasters during the innings break.
After India lost Rohit, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli added 43 for the second wicket to somewhat steady the sinking Indian ship before Rashid Khan's twin strikes left India reeling at 62 for 3.
"I started chewing my gum harder when he (Kohli) got out. I just backed my game and my instincts.
"I have played a lot of cricket with him (Rohit Sharma) and now under him, he understands my game. He knows my game, so he sits back and enjoys it," Surya said.
India came into the match with a flawless record, having won three games in the group campaign while one match against Canada was washed out. Afghanistan, on the other hand, suffered a 104-run loss to West Indies in their final group match and faced defeat against Rohit Sharma's team too.