Team India captain Rohit Sharma heaped huge praise on star middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav after his astonishing knock against Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Suryakumar took apart Zimbabwe’s bowling attack in the last five overs to help India post a mammoth 186/5 in 20 overs. He reaffirmed his status as the world’s number one T20 batter with the help of six fours and four sixes during his unbeaten 61-run knock off 25 balls.
The last five overs yielded as many as 79 runs and bulk of them were scored by the Mumbaikar.
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Surya came out to bat in the 13th over when India lost wickets in quick succession. The 32-year-old didn’t take much time to play his shots as he picked up the pace straight away. He toyed with the field and scored his shots all around the park with his 360-degree stroke-making.
Rohit lauded the batting of the ICC number 1 ranked T20I batsman and said that he took the pressure off other players also with his ability to score quick runs.
“What he’s doing for the team is remarkable. Playing and taking pressure off batsmen as well – it’s quite important from team’s perspective. We know his ability and it allows the other guys to take some time as well. The confidence he shows when he bats, the dug-out can be at ease. He’s shown a lot of composure. This is something that we expect from him and he’s gone from strength to strength,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
Surya is currently the third leading run-getter in the 2022 T20 World Cup with 225 runs in 5 matches at an astonishing average of 75. While it’s his extraordinary strike rate of 193.97 which makes his stand apart from others.
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Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s batting depth was never enough to surpass India’s target on Sunday and they were shot out for 115 in 17.2 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin (3/22) enjoying a good day at the office.
Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami took two wickets apiece while Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shared a wicket each.
India finished on top of group 2 and will now play their fourth T20 World Cup semifinal (after 2007, 2014, 2016) against Jos Buttler’s England in Adelaide on November 10.
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