Putting aside the chatter around his form, Suryakumar Yadav produced a match-winning show for the Indian cricket team, scoring a 44-ball 83 in the 3rd T20I against West Indies. Surya's knock played a crucial role in India's triumph, with the win also keeping the team alive in the bid to win the 5-match series. En route to his match-winning knock, Surya completed 100 sixes in T20I cricket, becoming the fastest Indian to complete the landmark.
In the match, during the chase of 160 runs, Suryakumar was at his vintage best, smashing 83 in 44 balls, with 10 fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of over 188. Surya achieved the accomplishment in just 49 innings, becoming the fastest Indian to do so. The fastest player to bring up 100 T20I sixes is West Indies batter Evin Lewis.
Suryakumar also overtook Shikhar Dhawan to become India's fourth-highest run-getter in T20I cricket. In 51 T20Is and 49 innings, he has scored 1,780 runs at an average of 45.64, with three centuries and 14 fifties. His best score is 117. His runs have come at a strike rate of over 174.
Shikhar has scored 1,759 runs at an average of 27.92 and a strike rate of over 126 in 68 matches. He has 11 fifties in his T20I carer.
Most sixes in T20Is by Indians:
- 182 sixes - Rohit Sharma (140 innings)
- 117 sixes - Virat Kohli (107 innings)
- 101* sixes - Suryakumar Yadav (49 innings)
- 99 sixes - KL Rahul (68 innings)
- 74 sixes - Yuvraj Singh (51 innings)
- 68 sixes - Hardik Pandya (70 innings)
- 58 sixes - Suresh Raina (66 innings)
- 52 sixes - MS Dhoni (85 innings)
- 50 sixes - Shikhar Dhawan (66 innings)
Above Suryakumar are players like KL Rahul (2,265 runs in 72 matches at an average of 37.75, with two centuries and 22 fifties), skipper Rohit Sharma (3,853 runs in 148 matches at an average of 31.32 and a strike rate of 139.24, with four centuries and 29 fifties) and Virat Kohli (4,008 runs at an average of 52.73 in 115 matches, with one century and 37 fifties).
This 'Player of the Match' award for the match was the 12th 'Player of the Match' award for Suryakumar in 51 T20Is - joint second most for India along with Rohit Sharma, only behind Virat Kohli's 15.
With this win, India has managed to keep the series alive by 2-1. There are two more games to go.
With ANI inputs