For over a year now, Suryakumar Yadav has earned the moniker of a 360-degree batter, capable of accessing pockets in the field that a conventional batter wouldn't. On Sunday, he buttressed his sky-rocketing reputation by producing a masterclass of T20 batting, plundering an unbeaten 111 off 51 balls to guide India to a 65-run win in the second T20I against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.
Coming in at No 3 at the fall of Rishabh Pant in the sixth over, Surya found boundaries at regular intervals through the middle overs, playing the field with trademark efficiency. He favoured the region between square leg and fine leg initially, and when Kane Williamson sent an extra man to the leg side, Surya went over cover, showing his range as well as game awareness.
With skipper Hardik Pandya, he added 82 runs off 41 balls, scoring 68 of those in 28 balls. The 32-year-old cut loose in the 17th over, bowled by Tim Southee. The duo took the experienced bowler apart with 17 runs, Surya hitting a six off the first ball and following it up with a couple of fours.
The next over went for 18 runs as Surya tore into Adam Milne, first hitting the pacer for a straight six, and when he overcompensated with his line, the batter read the slower ball early and casually flicked it for another six.
{{/usCountry}}The next over went for 18 runs as Surya tore into Adam Milne, first hitting the pacer for a straight six, and when he overcompensated with his line, the batter read the slower ball early and casually flicked it for another six.
{{/usCountry}}Lockie Ferguson, among the fastest bowlers around, was the next to face the heat, leaking 22 runs in the 19th over. Ferguson began the over by bowling outside off with the third man inside the ring, and Surya simply opened up his bat to hit a boundary and enter the 90s.
A ball later, Ferguson went outside off again, pulling the length back a bit. Surya brought out the cut to hit another boundary over point. Next, the bowler went full outside off but Surya lofted him over cover for four to bring up his second T20I ton. His second fifty took just 17 balls and completely turned the momentum India's way.
Ferguson tried a short ball next, and Surya played the ramp shot over the wicketkeeper's head for four. The last ball was full and outside off, and Surya used the width to chance his arms, sending into the stands for his seventh six.
There was some late drama as Southee, bowling the final over, claimed a hat-trick. He removed Pandya, Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar off successive balls to claim his second T20I hat-trick. India posted 191/6 though Surya didn't get the strike in that over.
India began their defence brightly, Bhuvneshwar Kumar sending back big-hitting Finn Allen the second ball. The Kiwis never really recovered, and though skipper Kane Williamson hit 61, his 52-ball effort was too slow and too little in the chase that started with New Zealand needing almost ten runs an over.
The middle order crumbled under pressure as New Zealand lost five batters in the stretch between overs 9-16. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, back in the playing XI after being benched throughout the T20 World Cup in Australia, took two wickets in the middle overs, as did Mohammed Siraj, who extracted appreciable seam movement under the lights.
Deepak Hooda, at the receiving end of Southee's feat earlier, nearly had a hat-trick of his own, sending back Ish Sodhi and Southee off successive balls in the 19th over. But Ferguson denied him, taking a single. Hooda had his man next ball though, claiming an impressive four-wicket haul on a track where New Zealand's seven overs of spin delivered a solitary wicket.
The action now shifts to McLean Park in Napier for the final T20I on Tuesday. The first T20I in Wellington on Friday was washed out without a ball being bowled.