Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav continued his rich vein of form in T20Is as after a couple of low scores against Australia, the No.1 T20 batter in the world was back to his best smashing a 29-ball half-century against South Africa in the second T20I on Tuesday, December 11 in Gqeberha. India didn’t get off to a great start losing both the openers Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal by the second over but Surya ensured that the Men in Blue not only utilised the powerplay but also managed to recover from a horrible beginning.
Surya picked his gaps and bowlers and continued to score boundaries in his style. He got terrific support first from Tilak Varm and then from Rinku Singh as he raced off to a 29-ball half-century. On the way to his 17th T20I fifty, Surya also achieved a massive milestone as he completed 2000 runs in the format as soon as he reached the score of 15.
This was Surya’s 56th T20I innings for India and he became the joint-fastest batter for his country to score 2000 runs equalling Virat Kohli. Kohli who achieved the feat in 56 innings as well is the second-fastest batter to get to the landmark after Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who both achieved the landmark in 52 innings. Surya has now joined Kohli on the list. KL Rahul is next on the list, who completed 2000 runs in 58 innings in T20Is.
Surya strung partnerships of 49 and 70 with Tilak and Rinku respectively before falling to Tabraiz Shamsi for 56. Rinku will be key for India in the latter stages if the Men in Blue have to get to close to the 180-190 mark, which might be a winning total on the surface.
South Africa chose to bowl first as skipper Aiden Markram cited overcast conditions as the main reason for his call.