Virat Kohli has hit the ground running at the T20 World Cup while Rohit Sharma scored a valuable half century on Thursday against the Netherlands after seeing off a tricky period in the middle. Rohit had fallen for just four runs before the game against Pakistan thanks to a blinder of a catch off him but Kohli famously scored an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls to lead India to victory.
However, a consistent feature of India's recent success in the shortest format of the game has been their no.4, Suryakumar Yadav, taking the opposition bowling attacks to the cleaners more often than not. Although he only fell for a quickfire 15 off 10 balls against Pakistan, Suryakumar was at his aggressive best against the Netherlands, smacking 51 runs off 25 balls helped India set the target of 180 runs for the Dutch. In reply, Netherlands could only manage 123-9 in 20 overs.
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir lauded Suryakumar for his blinder against Netherlands. Gambhir highlighted how Suryakumar in just one year and seven months since his debut in T20Is, has played several match winning knocks for the men in blue where he has overshadowed the top order including Rohit, Kohli and KL Rahul. The 32-year old has also been the aggressor in many of his partnerships with India's top order and especially in his partnerships with Kohli.
“At No.4, he doesn't(often) get the luxury of batting in first six overs, still being able to score close to 1000 runs at that strike rate. He has taken lot of pressure off whether it is Virat Kohli that he is batting alongside, Rohit Sharma or for that matter even KL Rahul. Whenever he has batted, he has been the aggressor,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}“At No.4, he doesn't(often) get the luxury of batting in first six overs, still being able to score close to 1000 runs at that strike rate. He has taken lot of pressure off whether it is Virat Kohli that he is batting alongside, Rohit Sharma or for that matter even KL Rahul. Whenever he has batted, he has been the aggressor,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
{{/usCountry}}"He is the one who is taking lot of pressure off the top three and that's the reason why India have been able to get to 180 runs(179) today," Gambhir added.
In the match against Netherlands, three of India's batters namely Rohit, Kohli and Suryakumar scored half centuries. Rohit scored 53 runs off 39 balls while Kohli got the highest runs among the three as he played a knock of 62 runs in 44 balls. However, Suryakumar was adjudged the player of the match.
With the win, Team India raced to the top of their group with four points in two matches. Rohit Sharma and Co. will now play their third match of the marquee tournament, against South Africa on October 30, Sunday at Perth.