Suryakumar Yadav was at his breathtaking best in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) comprehensive 27-run victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday (May 12).
Batting at No. 3, the dashing right-hander slammed his maiden IPL hundred (103 not out off 49 balls), helping MI pile up a mammoth 218/5 on the board. His whirlwind knock was studded with 11 fours and 6 sixes and he deservingly won the Player-of-the-Match award.
The highlight of Surya’s knock was the six he hit against Mohammad Shami in the penultimate over of MI’s innings.
Suryakumar flicked his wrist at the very end to slice the ball over short third man for a maximum after Shami pitched the delivery wide outside off. It was such an audacious stroke that the legendary Sachin Tendulkar was seen imitating it while sitting in the dugout.
The shot also left former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody in awe as he stated that he had never seen any batter attempting anything of the kind in his entire life.
"That particular ball, I don't think I've ever seen a six hit over third man with a vertical bat. I've seen hit with a horizontal bat, a cut shot going over third man. I've never seen a six hit with a vertical bat off the middle of the bat, I've even seen a thick-edge fly. Never seen it before in my life!," Moody told ESPNCricinfo.
"I've seen nearly 10 million balls bowled in my lifetime in all forms of the game, and I've never seen that before. It was totally mint. It was in his head, and no one else's head, that he was capable of doing that," he added.
After the game, MI skipper Rohit Sharma heaped praise on Suryakumar Yadav, citing that the latter’s confidence rubs off on guys who are batting with him.
“The guy (Suryakumar Yadav) has got the confidence. We wanted to keep right-left combination but Surya came in and said no, he wanted to go in. That is the kind of confidence he has and that rubs off on others,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Every game he wants to start fresh and does not look back at the previous game. Sometimes you can sit back and feel proud about what you have done but that is not the case with him,” he added.
