Why the Indian team must trust Suryakumar Yadav, he certainly showed that on Sunday in Nottingham. In the chase of 216, the batsman from Mumbai notched up his maiden international hundred, scoring 117 off just 55 deliveries. Unfortunately, his magnificent efforts went in vain as India lost the game by 17 runs.
Suryakumar changed the course of the game, especially after the top three – Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli – fell early. He stitched a 119-run stand with Shreyas Iyer but their dismissals towards the end shattered India’s winning hopes.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag was all praise for Suryakumar after the game. Speaking on the Sony Sports Network, the cricketer-turned-commentator said India would have won the game if Suryakumar would’ve gotten support from other batters.
“He built his innings, he played cautiously for the first 5-10 balls but after that, the fours and sixes started coming, and then the manner in which he was playing, India should have won the match. He needed a supporting role from someone who could stand with him and play,” Sehwag said.
“Shreyas Iyer scored 28 runs off 23 balls and he definitely did support him for some time, but the batters after that did not give him company. Such a knock would have looked better if it was on the winning side and there would have been more discussions about it, now we will only say that it was a good knock but India lost,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar, who was also a part of the Sony Sports commentary panel, said Suryakumar played most of his shots off the good ball bowled by the England bowlers.
“I just want to say one thing, that a thing that sets Suryakumar Yadav apart, there is a lot of competition in the middle order, if you see the bowling, there might be two-three bad balls on which he has hit fours and sixes. Most of his shots were off good balls.
“This is his speciality. I have always been seeing this one thing about Suryakumar Yadav if you bowl a good ball to him, there is no guarantee that you will not get hit. A lot of other batters play well but struggle slightly against good balls,” Manjrekar said.
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