Star India batter Suryakumar Yadav once again showed brilliant form as he scored a half-century during the 1st T20 World Cup warm-up match against Australia in Brisbane on Monday. Suryakumar scored 50 off 33 balls to take India to 186/7, a total that proved just about enough as the Men in Blue warmed-up for the Super 12s starting Saturday with a six-run win over the reigning T20 World Champions.
Suryakumar, was one of the two half-centurions for India along with opener KL Rahul. The fact that India were able to cross the 180-run mark was due to Suryakumar ensuring he batted until the last over of the Indian innings. Surprisingly, Suryakumar fell to a bizarre dismissal as he toe-edged a leg-side full toss straight back to Kane Richardson. However, more than the dismissal, it was a video of Suryakumar mouthing a few words before giving his wicket away that went viral on social media.
In a video uploaded on Twitter, on the delivery before he got out – the fourth ball of the 20th over – the stump microphone captured Suryakumar saying to his batting partner Axar Patel, "Maarne ka mood hi nahi ho raha yaar" (I'm just not in a mood to be hitting today, man). He had gotten to his half-century by smashing a four towards extra cover, but as it turned out, the very next ball, Suryakumar perished. It is important to note that even though Suryakumar scored a vital half-century, it was an unusual knock from India's No. 4 as he scored his runs at a strike-rate of 151. Usually, Suryakumar's strike-rate is a lot higher.
{{/usCountry}}In a video uploaded on Twitter, on the delivery before he got out – the fourth ball of the 20th over – the stump microphone captured Suryakumar saying to his batting partner Axar Patel, "Maarne ka mood hi nahi ho raha yaar" (I'm just not in a mood to be hitting today, man). He had gotten to his half-century by smashing a four towards extra cover, but as it turned out, the very next ball, Suryakumar perished. It is important to note that even though Suryakumar scored a vital half-century, it was an unusual knock from India's No. 4 as he scored his runs at a strike-rate of 151. Usually, Suryakumar's strike-rate is a lot higher.
{{/usCountry}}Coming into the World Cup, Suryakumar has been in a rich vein of form, hitting a hat-trick of half-centuries. He scored a fine 69 in the series-decider against Australia in Hyderabad which India won by six wickets and followed it with knocks of unbeaten 50 and 61 against South Africa in Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati respectively. In all these matches, Suryakumar scored at a strike rate of almost 192, 152 and 278 respectively. In fact, his 61 against the Proteas took just 22 balls.
Suryakumar also scored 52 in India's first practice match of the tour against Western Australia, to go with a half-century just yesterday after skipping the second WA practice game. He is likely to be back in action for a second Cup warm-up game against New Zealand on Wednesday before India open their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan on Sunday at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.