The day finally came after 25 innings for Suryakumar Yadav to come of age in one-day internationals as team management and selectors’ faith finally paid off with the T20 superstar playing his most mature innings in the format against Australia in the three-match series opener. Surya, who has bossed T20 format was himself surprised that despite many things similar between the two formats, he still wasn’t able to crack the ODIs but he did when the Men in Blue were in sort of a tricky situation while chasing 277 runs in Mohali on Friday, September.
Surya, who averaged 24.5 before Friday, took his time initially. He played balls one by one, not getting too aggressive early on before a couple of his straight drives gave him boundaries. Once he had played 20-odd balls, he had started to get his strokes going. With the required run rate, not a problem and with the win in sight, Surya started to show the T20 player he has been with a couple of smashing shots, one against Pat Cummins and then Cameron Green.
Surya got out immediately after scoring his half-century but the innings showed a lot of promise of what’s to come. Speaking after the match, “I was dreaming of this type of innings when I started playing this format. I tried to bat deep and finish the game, unfortunately could not do it today but very happy with the result. I had been wondering what had been happening for me in this format, the teams and bowlers were the same.
I went back and reflected and realized I was probably rushing things a bit so I decided to play slower and take it deep. I think it is the first time I have not played a sweep. This has come from the Chandu Pandit School of Arts (on his straight drives). I really enjoyed watching the openers bat. Want to try and bat the same way, bat deep, and try and win games for India,” Surya further added.
India took a 1-0 lead series and will hope to seal it on Sunday, September 24 in Indore.
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