Despite Yadav’s spirited hundred, India lost the match by 17 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav's heroics with the bat in the 3rd T20I against England received plaudits from India’s all-format captain Rohit Sharma.
After winning the toss in the dead rubber, England opted to bat first. Dawid Malan’s resolute half-century (77 off 39 balls) and some frenzied batting from Liam Livingstone (42* off 29 balls) later in the innings, helped the hosts get to a mammoth total of 215/7 in 20 overs.
After losing the top-order batters early, the visitors were brought back into the game by Suryakumar Yadav’s extraordinary batting. He scored 117 runs off just 55 balls and almost drove the team home before getting dismissed in the penultimate over.
But his gutsy performance was unsuccessful as the team fell short of the target by 17 runs.
SEE ALSO: Cricket fraternity reacts as Suryakumar Yadav’s 117 goes in vain; England wins 3rd T20I by 17 runs
At the post-match presentation, Rohit praised Yadav and said it was magnificent to watch his batting.
"Yeah, was a fantastic chase, although we fell short a little bit. But to show that fight, it is something that we are really proud of, you know, especially Surya. I mean, the way he batted was magnificent to watch," he said.
Sharma stated that he has been watching Yadav for a while having played with him in IPL and international cricket as well and that he liked the T20 format, further adding that the right-hander has grown as a player.
"Yeah, look, I've been watching him for a while now. Obviously, he loves this format. Got a wide range of shots as well. Pretty unorthodox in the way he approaches the innings. Never lets them go loose. So it was something very interesting for us to get him in the squad and then from there onwards, he has just grown as a player and he's moving from strength to strength," he added.
The captain said that things are going well and that he doesn't want the team to take its success for granted when questioned about India's preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this year down under.
"Yeah, I hope so. So far things are looking pretty good, but we want to be a team who don't sit on laurels. We want to keep moving forward as a team and try and get better every game. Today was a great game for us to learn a lot of things, how we want to come out and bowl certain areas, certain line, and lengths, and to bat as well. When you're put under pressure, you need to respond, and how you respond is very critical. Games like this will teach you how to do that. So these games are important moving forward. So I guess looking pretty good at the moment," said Sharma.
The ‘Men in Blue’ won the T20I series, 2-1, and will next take on the same opposition in a 3-match ODI series.
(SKY SPORTS INPUTS)