India clinched the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka 2-1 after Suryakumar Yadav's blitzkrieg powered India to a 91-run victory in the decider in Rajkot on Saturday (January 7). The explosive batter hammered 112 off mere 51 in which he smoked nine sixes and seven boundaries to help India post a 228-run total. In reply, Sri Lankan batting was rattled by India's fierce bowling as they crashed to just 137 and handed India a facile victory.
Riding on this ton, the flamboyant India batter also completed his third T20I century and joined the elite list of just five international batters who have smashed three or more centuries in the slam bang format. India's regular skipper Rohit Sharma dominates the list as he has struck a total of fours centuries while Australia's Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand's Colin Munro, Czech Republic's Sabawoon Davizi, and Suryakumar have three centuries apiece against their names.
Suryakumar garnered praise from all around the world which saw his fans going gaga over his batting charisma. Meanwhile, another batting juggernaut Virat Kohli posted an Instagram story heaping praise on Suryakumar. On Sunday (January 8), Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video of the 32-year-old's million dollar reaction to Kohli's story. The video also featured Surya's heartfelt reply on Kohlis' story.
Kohli had posted two fire emojis and two applauding emojis as he put a picture of Suryakumar from his century knock, reacting to the story, the latter passed a smile and said, “Oh baba, look who has posted a story!”
Suryakumar while replying to Kohli's post wrote, “Bhau, bohot saara pyaar. See you soon (Brother, lots of love. See you soon!)”
Earlier, in the post match presentation, the Player of the Match Suryakumar said," It's really important to put pressure on yourself when you are preparing for a game. If you do that in practice, it gets a little easier while playing the game. There is a lot of hard work involved but it's about doing quality practice sessions. You should know what your game is and prepare accordingly. Boundaries behind are like 50-60 meters, so I was targeting them. There are some shots that are pre-determined but you need to have other shots too so that if the bowler changes his plan, you can have an answer. He (Dravid) just lets me enjoy myself. He tells me to just enjoy and express myself."
India and Sri Lanka will again lock horns with each other for the three-match ODI series which will kick off from January 10.
