On hospital bed, Suryakumar Yadav hooked to Rohit Sharma's Afghan dominance '20 minutes after surgery'
Suryakumar Yadav was following the India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I only 20 minutes removed from his surgery for a sports hernia.
Suryakumar Yadav is currently not part of India's set-up but the No. 1 T20I batter in the world is ensuring he isn't too far behind on the action. Suryakumar, who has been missing in India colours since hurting his ankle during the third ODI against South Africa in December, underwent surgery on his groin Wednesday, but immediately post the operation, was quick to switch on his iPad and watch Rohit Sharma's record-breaking century against Afghanistan in Bengaluru.
In an Instagram story uploaded by Surya's wife, Devisha Shetty, SKY, just out of surgery, on his hospital bed, was catching up on the 3rd T20I between India and Afghanistan as Rohit approached his century. "This guy has just come out of surgery 20 minutes back and guess what he is doing? Watching cricket. The video captured Surya with a beaming smile on his face following the action closely."
Devisha also posted a heartwarming story for her husband with the caption: "My strong boy. Seeing you sedated and unresponsive was so hard. But then sometime later, you opened your eyes and smiled at me. That one smile meant so much. Can't wait to see you on the ground real soon."
Watch the video below:
It was only last month in Paarl that Suryakumar twisted his ankle, and hasn't been seen since. In between, a video of him walking in crutches emerged, highlighting the severity of the injury. But while all the focus was on his injured ankle, it was reported earlier this month that SKY is also nursing a sports hernia and was in line for a surgery in Germany. Following the operation, which fortunately went smoothly, Surya is expected to take another 8-9 months of time before he starts training. Whether he will be fit in time to play the IPL 2024 for Mumbai Indians is unknown at this moment but there is a belief that he will attain full fitness by March end, probably earlier.
"In Yadav's case he will take more time than expected. After his hernia operation it might take up to eight-nine weeks for him to start training. Hopefully he will be fit during the IPL," a report had stated.
That Rohit's 121 turned out to be a record-breaking century is coincidentally linked to Suryakumar. SKY, along with Glenn Maxwell and Rohit himself, was locked in as the only three batters in world cricket to score four T20I centuries, before the India captain surged ahead. Surya's maiden T20I century dates back to June of 2022 – 117 against England at Nottingham in a losing cause – before he added a second – a whirlwind 111 not out vs New Zealand at Mount Maunganui three months later. Just four T20I innings after, SKY blazed away to an unbeaten 112 against Sri Lanka at home, and 12 months later, ended the year 2023 with 100 vs South Africa at Johannesburg.
Nonetheless, Rohit is now a step ahead of the other two T20I superstars, and with his knock last evening at the Chinnaswamy stadium, brushed aside doubts – if there ever were any – that he is ready for one final shot at World Cup glory come June.
