Suryakumar Yadav scored 62 off 40 balls as he guided India to a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first T20I against New Zealand in Jaipur. It was his third fifty-plus score in nine T20Is for India. He added a 59-run stand with skipper Rohit Shama to anchor India’s run chase. With 10 required in the final over, Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs in the fourth delivery of the 20th over.
SKY attended the post-match press conference after India’s win against their nemesis. Suryan was asked about how he has settled into his role at batting at number three for India. In response to the question, he hailed Virat Kohli who allowed him to bat at number three in India’s last T20 World Cup 2021 encounter against Namibia.
.@surya_14kumar played a brilliant 6⃣2⃣-run knock in the run-chase and won the Man of the Match award. 🙌#TeamIndia #INDvNZ @Paytm
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/5lDM57TI6f pic.twitter.com/d9cx6oAqzS
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2021
“I still remember when I made my batting debut, he was the one who sacrificed his position and let me go at No. 3 when I played against England and he batted at 4. It was the same thing. He asked whether I want to go in so that I get some World Cup game time. It was really nice of him and I enjoyed coming back not out in that game.”
Suryakumar scored an unbeaten 25 off 19 against Namibia as India chased down the target by nine wickets with 28 balls remaining.
In his short international career, Surya has batted mostly at numbers three and four. However, in the presser, he said that he is happy to bat anywhere the team required him to.
Happy To Bat Anywhere: Suryakumar Yadav
The kind of start we wanted 🇮🇳
Onto the next one 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nxpL3JeH9t— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) November 17, 2021
“It’s not like I want to bat at any specific position. I am happy to bat anywhere. I have been batting at the No. 3 position for my franchise for the last three years so it was nothing different for me. I just go out and express myself, the way I do in the nets. I have followed the same process for the last 2-3 years. I don’t try and do anything different. I just want to go out and enjoy myself.”
In nine T20Is, he has scored 243 runs at an average of 48.60 and a strike rate of 160.92. The talented batter has also crossed the half-century mark thrice in his short T20I career.
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