Contrary to the idiom ‘Sky’s the limit’, India’s SKY aka Suryakumar Yadav has no limits. The batsman displayed his unmatched superiority yet again in the shortest format with a scintillating century as India defeated Sri Lanka by 91 runs in the third T20I in Rajkot on Saturday. With this win, the Indian team also secured a memorable 2-1 series win. Yadav finished 112 not out off 51 balls for his third T20 hundred, and India amassed 228-5.
The Indian bowlers also dominated the second half of the game as they took on Sri Lankan batters. While the first two matches were a tight run, India dominated the proceeding with both ball and bat in the decider, and stopped the opponents at a score of 137. Chasing the stiff target, Sri Lanka made a speedy start with Kusal Mendis (23 runs) and Pathum Nissanka (15 runs) adding 44 off 29 balls. Axar Patel got the breakthrough and dismissed Mendis. Thereafter, Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals and didn’t appear to be in the chase at all, PTI reported.
Blazing innings by SKY
In the three-match T20 series, India won the first game in Mumbai by two runs and Sri Lanka won the second in Pune by 16 runs. India’s unbeaten streak of 11 bilateral home series at home since 2019 was also at risk in this decider game. Opting to bat, India’s first lost in the form of Ishan Kishan came early in the first over. Rahul Tripathi then scored 35 off 16 balls to give the innings momentum. Shubman Gill added 46 off 36 balls. They added 49 runs for the second wicket.
The impetus changed when Yadav came to the crease. He smacked seven fours and nine sixes to demolish the Lankan bowling attack. Yadav’s 45-ball hundred was the second quickest for India after Rohit Sharma (35 balls) in 2017, also against Sri Lanka. Yadav added 111 runs off 53 balls with Gill for the third wicket. Gill was dismissed in the 15th over. India also lost captain Hardik Pandya (4) and Deepak Hooda (4).
First non-opening batsman to score three T20 100s
Yadav blew the total past 200 in 18 overs and became the first non-opening batsman to score three T20 hundreds. The others were against England and New Zealand last year. The teams will next meet in three one-day internationals, with the first game scheduled for Tuesday in Guwahati.
(With Agency Inputs)