India legend Sunil Gavaskar praised India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav for his superb match-winning knock against New Zealand in the second T20I of the five-match series in Raipur. He smashed an unbeaten 82 off 37 balls, striking at 221.62, as India chased down the 209-run target in 15.2 overs with seven wickets to spare.
The year 2025 was a forgettable one for Suryakumar the batter, as in 19 T20I innings he managed only 218 runs at a strike rate of 123.16 and an average of 13.62, without scoring a single fifty. Now, speaking on Star Sports as quoted by India Today, Gavaskar lauded the approach Surya showed in his knock to get back into form.
“He was on 11 off 11 deliveries. So in that partnership of 122, 76 were scored by Ishan Kishan, but that also shows the skipper’s maturity. Here was another man who was batting so well, so he was giving him more of the strike as well as getting his eye in, and therefore getting himself ready for the big push. Once Ishan Kishan got out, he was the one who took the initiative and started punching the ball, and besides everything else, the driving through the off side was the big plus because that means that he’s looking to play straight as much as possible. Then once you’ve got that, this shot can come into play. That was a fabulous innings and a big boost for the Indian team on the eve of the World Cup,” he said.
Suryakumar came to bat when India were struggling after losing two wickets for just six runs inside the second over. The right-hander took responsibility and rebuilt the innings with Ishan Kishan, playing watchfully in the early stages of his knock. The 122-run partnership for the third wicket between the two batters settled the chase. After Kishan’s dismissal, Suryakumar added an unbeaten 81-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Shivam Dube, who remained not out on 36 off 18 balls.
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