Suryakumar Yadav fires India to 1-0 lead against New Zealand

PTI

Mount Maunganui, Nov 20

Suryakumar Yadav struck a breathtaking century as India outplayed New Zealand by 65 runs in the second T20 International here today.

SKY not yet the best T20 player from India: Southee

Mount Maunganui: Suryakumar Yadav’s dazzling century boosted his credentials as T20 great, but veteran pacer Tim Southee believes the batter must perform consistently over a long time-frame. “There has been a number of great T20 players from India, so many great cricketers. Surya has been having a great 12 months and it is for him to continue to do what he has been doing (for over a period of time),” Southee said. “You have got so many players who have played for a long period of time and have achieved so much over a long period of time,” Southee said. PTI

Yadav struck a sensational 111 not out off 51 balls, his second T20 century, and fired the team to an imposing total of 191 for six after the hosts asked India to bat first.

In the chase, the hosts lost wickets regularly and were never in the hunt, eventually getting bowled out for 126 in 18.5 overs. With the first game being washed out, India lead the three match series 1-0, with the final game to be played on Tuesday.

Promoted to No. 3, the 32-year-old Yadav toyed with the home bowlers, smashing boundaries and sixes at will. He hit 11 fours and seven sixes in all, scoring his runs at an incredible rate of 217.64 per 100 balls. He scored the final 64 runs of his innings off just 18 balls.

India’s experiment to open with Rishabh Pant did not work as he fell after a sluggish six off 13 balls. While Yadav seemed to be in a league of his own, opener Ishan Kishan contributed 36 off 31 and No. 4 Shreyas Iyer made 13 off 9 nine balls.

It might not look simple to the naked eye but Yadav, in his own words, keeps it “simple” — today he executed his amazing range of strokes as per the field placements. If the spinners pitched it full on the off stump, he was happy to play the inside-out shot over cover; when the faster bowlers targeted his stumps at good length, he helped the ball sail over the fine leg fence for sixers.

Yadav brought up his second T20I century off 49 balls, going berserk in the penultimate over, bowled by Lockie Ferguson, hammering four boundaries and a six over deep point.

The last five overs yielded 72 runs. Tim Southee bowled a brilliant 20th over and stemmed the flow of runs by taking a hat-trick, dismissing Washington Sundar, Deepak Hooda and Pandya on consecutive balls.

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