The sensational Suryakumar Yadav unleashed the beast in him and hammered his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) century in the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday (May 12).
Suryakumar belted GT bowlers left, right and centre to whack a blistering 49-ball 103 and helped Mumbai Indians (MI) post a colossal total of 208/5 in their stipulated 20 overs. Suryakumar cracked six maximums and 11 fours to break the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's 12-year-old record for MI. The 32-year-old explosive batter notched the third highest individual score for Paltans (103) by surpassing Tendulkar's 100 which he scored in 2011 at the same venue. Notably, Sanath Jayasuriya holds the record of scoring the highest individual score for MI i.e 114* which came off in the inaugural season of IPL in 2008.
Highest individual scores for MI
114* - Sanath Jayasuriya vs CSK, Mumbai, Wankhede, 2008
109* - Rohit Sharma vs KKR, Kolkata, 2012
103* - Suryakumar Yadav vs GT, Mumbai, Wankhede, today
100* - Sachin Tendulkar vs KTK, Mumbai, Wankhede, 2011
100* - Lendl Simmons vs PBKS, Mohali, 2014
Suryakumar went past his previous individual best of 83, which came against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Mumbai’s previous game this season.
He has smashed three T20I centuries but this was his first one in the glitzy league over the year. MI's star batter brought up his hundred by hitting Joseph for an incredible six in the final ball of the innings.
Follow the MI vs GT's live scores here
Riding on a scintillating 103, Suryakumar also become the highest scorer against GT.
Highest individual scores vs GT
103* - Suryakumar Yadav (MI), Mumbai WS, today
92 - Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK), Ahmedabad, 2023
89 - Jos Buttler (RR), Kolkata, 2022
83 - Venkatesh Iyer (KKR), Ahmedabad, 2023
Besides Suryakumar, none of the MI batter could cross 31-run mark. Ishan Kishan was the second highest scorer for MI in the tie against GT with a quickfire 31 off 20.
After posting a huge total of 218/5, MI became the first team to register five 200-plus totals in an IPL season.
In reply MI rode on Suryakumar's maiden IPL ton to rock table toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) by 27 runs to move closer to playoff berth.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya won the toss and put MI to bat first. Both the teams didn't tinker with their playing XIs.
“We will bowl first. Looks like a good wicket, dew could have an effect, so chasing could be ideal. We realise the importance of every game, just need to stick to our plans and play good cricket. It's important to learn the lessons from your losses, rectify and don't repeat it. You do make mistakes in such a long tournament. God has been kind with our injuries. Same XI tonight,” GT captain Hardik said after winning the toss.
“We would have done the same thing, we need to bat and bowl really well. Things are coming along nicely in the last few games. We understand where we stand at the moment, just focus on the game in hand. It's not been ideal in terams of injury management, but we'll have to deal with it and thats waht the guys have done. We;'ve spoken about not letting external factors affect us. We're playing with the same squad as the last game,” MI skipper Rohit Sharma said after the toss.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Nehal Wadhera, Tim David, Chris Jordan, Vishnu Vinod, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya.
MI Subs: Madhwal, Ramandeep, Brevis, Warrier, Shokeen
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Wriddhiman Saha(w), Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Mohit Sharma, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Noor Ahmad.
GT Subs: Gill, Sudharsan, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore
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