Suryakumar Yadav produced an incredible display of power-hitting to reach his maiden T20I century during the second T20I of the series against England on Sunday. The right-handed batter reached his century in merely 48 balls, as he became the fifth Indian batter to reach the three-figure mark. India captain Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, KL Rahul, and Deepak Hooda have scored centuries in the shortest format of the game so far.
The Indian batter is also the only second Indian to score a century at no.4 after KL Rahul, who had also reached the three-figure mark at no.4 against West Indies in Lauderhill.
Suryakumar Yadav arrived at the crease when India were reeling at 32/3 in a 216-run chase. However, he remained undeterred with the flurry of wickets, as he forged an record 119-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shreyas Iyer (28) to stabilise the Indian innings. The 31-year-old batter did majority of the hitting in the partnership, as he reached his half-century in 32 deliveries.
Suryakumar, then, shifted gears as he scored another fifty in merely 16 deliveries, hitting 14 fours and six sixes en route to his eventual score of 117. The batter remained only one run short of equalling Rohit’s record for the highest score by an Indian in the format.
Earlier, Dawid Malan made a sublime 77 off 39 balls as England put India’s second string attack to sword to finish with a mammoth 215 for seven in the third and final T20 International here on Sunday.
Opting to bat, skipper Jos Buttler (18 off 9 balls) and Jason Roy (27 off 26) helped England reach 52 for 1 in six overs. Malan and Liam Livingstone (42 not out off 29) then shared an entertaining 84-run partnership to set the platform for a massive total.