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Numero Uno Suryakumar Yadav once again proved his batting prowess after whacking his third century in the shortest format to help India win the final T20I of the three-match series by 91 runs on Saturday (January 7).
In his blistering 112-run knock, Suryakumar smoked nine sixes and seven boundaries as to help India post a colossal total of 228/5 in the decider. In reply, Sri Lanka's batter couldn't stand India's bowling and were reduced to just 137. Arshdeep Singh remained the pick of the India's bowlers with a brilliant spell of 3/20 while Hardik Pandya, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal snared two wickets apiece.
With this ton, the 32-year-old batter also brought up his third T20I century and joined the elite list of just five international batters who have scored three or more centuries in the format. The list is led by Rohit Sharma with a total of fours tons, followed by Australia's Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand's Colin Munro, Czech Republic's Sabawoon Davizi, and Suryakumar with three centuries each.
Suraykumar, who single-handedly took Team India to a comfortable victory in the series decider match on Saturday, is often compared to South Africa legend AB de Villiers because of the variations in his shots. However, former Pakistan spinner Dinesh Kaneria went a step ahead and compared Surya with the West Indies great Chris Gayle, who is known by the name of 'Universe boss'.
"The new Universe Boss is Suryakumar Yadav-the beast. Now what can I tell about this lad, even before I have said that a player like Suryakumar comes once in a lifetime. The innings which he played today, scoring 112 off 51, no one can replicate that. You can speak about ABD, Chris Gayle but even these two look pale in front of Surya. He has already eclipsed them and has taken T20 cricket to a whole new level,” said Kaneria on his YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, India skipper Hardik Pandya on Saturday said with each innings the rampaging Suryakumar Yadav has been telling his teammates that "batting is so easy".
"I think he has been surprising everyone every innings that he is batting. He is just telling us that batting is so easy. If I were bowling to him, I'd be disheartened on seeing his batting, with the shot he plays. He has played blinders after blinders," Pandya said at the presentation ceremony.
Surya took over after Rahul Tripathi blazed away to a 16-ball 35, and Pandya was also full of praise for the latter.
"Special mention to Rahul Tripathi -- the ball was doing something but he showed great intent. Then SKY did his thing." When asked if he has ever given advice to Surya, Hardik said, "You don't need to tell him anything, he knows what to do. If there is any situation where he is unsure, we have our chats but more often than not, he knows what to do."
India and Sri Lanka will now take on each other in the three-match ODI series which will start from January 10.
