Two years back Suryakumar Yadav was still looking for an opportunity to make it to the Indian team. With back-to-back years of stellar shows in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians, Suryakumar was knocking on the selector's door until he made it through in 2021 and what world cricket saw next was the meteoric rise of the India star to become the number-one ranked batter in T20I cricket. Suryakumar has left fans across the globe mesmerised with his fearless batting which includes WWE superstar Drew McIntyre, who posted an internet-breaking reaction to the batter's knock against New Zealand.
Lacing 11 boundaries and seven sixes, Suryakumar smashed an unbeaten 111 off 51 balls to help India win by 65 runs in the second T20I against New Zealand on Sunday at the Bay Oval. There were no area on the ground where he didn't score a run as he launched a brutal attack on the New Zealand bowlers.
Mighty impressed with Suryakumar's knock, McIntyre took to Twitter to hail the India batter which perfectly summed him up. “My man Sky Yadav coming through again Best T20 player in the world right now!” he tweeted.
“The plan was clear when I went into bat. At the 12th/13th over, we thought about batting deep and getting around 170-175 was a par score. Secret (behind his freak shots) is about the intent and you need to enjoy yourself. It's also about the work you do in the practice sessions. It's a great feeling coming here, having a full game and going 1-0 in the series feels good. I feel that I didn't think too much about what was happening. Just had my gameplan and it worked well. Fantastic crowd here,” Suryakumar said after his knock for which he won the Man of the Match award.
{{/usCountry}}“The plan was clear when I went into bat. At the 12th/13th over, we thought about batting deep and getting around 170-175 was a par score. Secret (behind his freak shots) is about the intent and you need to enjoy yourself. It's also about the work you do in the practice sessions. It's a great feeling coming here, having a full game and going 1-0 in the series feels good. I feel that I didn't think too much about what was happening. Just had my gameplan and it worked well. Fantastic crowd here,” Suryakumar said after his knock for which he won the Man of the Match award.
{{/usCountry}}The third and final T20I of the series will be played in Napier on Tuesday.