India's star middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav was at his flamboyant best in the third T20I at Hyderabad against Australia which was also the series decider. He played a sparkling knock of 69 runs from 36 balls that schooled the Australian bowlers, with five fours and five sixes to his name. The knock packed a powerful punch and also bridged the gap of the 158 runs that were needed in 102 balls, taking India over the line and winning the series 2-1.
The 32-year-old Mumbai Indians (MI) batter was adjudged the Player of the Match and in a BCCI video with his teammate Axar Patel he revealed that he was sick and undergoing treatment ahead of the match. Axar, who was the Player of the Series, asked Suryakumar why was everyone talking and looking for Surya bhai amid the hustle and bustle in the physio room.
Surya then lays bare that “due to the change in the weather by virtue of so much travelling, I fell ill and was under the weather with stomachache and fever but at the same time I didn’t want to miss out on a very important series decider’’.
He goes on to further revelation tells that he told his doctor and physio, “if this was a world cup final, how would I react, I cannot sit by with this illness, so you must do everything you can, give me any kind of medication, pill or injection, but do get me fit for the evening game and once I am on the ground with the Indian jersey, then I feel reinvigorated with emotion”.
Australia were asked to bat first and had two stand-out players. Cameron Green smacked the ball from the get-go resulting in a fiery 52 off 21 balls. Some late but effective fireworks from Tim David made him the second Australian batter to score a fifty-54 (27) propelled Australia to a total of 186/7
India lost their openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma early, leaving much to do for Surya and Virat Kohli, who stitched a partnership of 104 runs which made the chase gettable with each of them scoring a half-century.
