Suryakumar Yadav Surpasses Babar Azam In Elite List After Terrific Innings Rescues India vs USA In T20 World Cup
T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav will remember the innings he played against the USA on Saturday for a long time - as will India
Suryakumar Yadav will remember the innings he played against the USA on Saturday for a long time - as will India. The skipper dragged India out of the mire with an unbeaten 84 as the defending champions managed a sub-par 161/9 on a day of collective batting failure against a plucky USA in their tournament opener. Suryakumar stood tall with a 49-ball innings studded with 10 fours and four sixes, single-handedly driving India out of the woods after a stunning collapse saw them reeling at 77 for six in the 13th over.
In scoring 84 in his debut innings as skipper in a T20 World Cup match, he surpassed Babar Azam in an elite list.
Highest score in debut innings as captain (T20 WC)
88 Chris Gayle vs AUS, The Oval, 2009
84 Suryakumar Yadav vs USA, Wankhede, 2026
68 Babar Azam vs IND, Dubai, 2021
65 Mahela Jayawardene vs KEN, Johannesburg, 2007
61 Mohammad Ashraful vs WI, Johannesburg, 2007
South Africa-born Shadley van Schalkwyk returned with figures of 4-0-25-4 as India's famed batting line-up, barring Suryakumar, endured a horrendous outing and were in real danger of being restricted to an under-par total.
The writing was perhaps on the wall when India failed to score a run off the first four balls of the innings, with the USA bowlers giving no room for the Indian batters to free their arms.
While Ishan Kishan (20) smacked a six off the fifth ball to get going, the first blow came when Abhishek Sharma fell for a first-ball duck in the second over.
The world No. 1 T20I batter, Abhishek, hit Ali Khan's delivery straight to Sanjay Krishnamurthi at deep cover, and for the first of several occasions that night, the Wankhede Stadium fell silent. The field placements by US skipper Monank Patel were top class, with fielders positioned straighter rather than finer.
Tilak Varma (25) broke the shackles when he danced down the track to hit a straight drive off Saurabh Netravalkar in the third over. He then went after van Schalkwyk for three fours in the next, and it looked like India were finally up and running.
However, Ishan, having earlier smacked Ali off his pads for a spectacular six, failed to make the most of a dropped chance and hit one straight to mid-on off van Schalkwyk on the first ball of the sixth over.
Van Schalkwyk couldn't believe his luck when Tilak mistimed a pull off a short ball that rose more than expected, offering simple catching practice to USA captain Monank Patel.
Shivam Dube (0), no stranger to the Wankhede wicket, was totally outfoxed by an innocuous slow bouncer, failing to check his stroke.
Looking completely clueless, Dube was caught in an awkward position as the ball flew to Netravalkar at short fine leg.
Rinku Singh (6 off 14) couldn't control his first attacking stroke, which went straight to long-on off Mohammad Mohsin (4-0-16-1). Hardik Pandya (5) fell to former Mumbai left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh (4-0-26-2) while trying to clear the sweeper cover, and Axar Patel (14) perished in his bid to get some late quick runs.
With the onus once again solely on him, Suryakumar dug deep, farmed the strike, and rarely missed connecting with his trademark shots.
Being the only Indian batter to fully understand the nature of the wicket, Suryakumar finally opened up in the last two overs. He collected 34 runs off them, including 21 in the final over bowled by Netravalkar
Babar Azam
India Cricket Team
USA