Suryakumar Yadav secures first century as England defeats India In Last T20I

England defeated India in the third T20I match by 17 runs. This was the final match in a 3-game series between the two national teams. India had won the previous two matches, leading by 50 runs in the first match and by 49 in the second one.

Match highlights

England won the toss for this game and opted to bat first. Jos Buttler collected several runs during the opening but he got removed by Avesh Khan when England reached 32/1.

Suryakumar Yadav became a highlighted player in this match because he got his first century in the T20 category. He managed to achieve 101 runs with 48 balls. The 1990-born player just made his T20I debut in 2021 and currently has an average of 38.4.

Most of Yadav’s runs came from his partnership with Shreyas Iyer. However, Reece Topley took out Iyer after 15 overs. At that point, Iyer already gave India 28 runs. Yadav then had to continue the game without partnership. Eventually, Yadav departed with 117 runs after being removed by Moeen Ali.

After Yadav’s dismissal, England regained confidence and started to catch up with the opponent. Chris Jordan awarded his team with 2 wickets and during the last over, England scored the 17 runs needed to beat India.

In this match, Topley received the title as Player of the Match. The cricketer managed to save his team during crucial times and contributed in bowling and batting.

The winning team applauded India for trying a different approach with this match. Eoin Morgan said that India team's new attitude of taking more risks is "unbelievably impressive". Virat Kohli is the prime example of an Indian player that showed this spirit in the recent T20I series.

Kohli was under scrutiny for his lackluster performance in the past matches. He had not made any century in recent years, both in white-ball and red-ball games. Some people even questioned whether there is a place for Kohli in the team.

Cricket analysts wondered if the new approach is an effort to bring back Kohli’s past performance. Nonetheless, it is likely that the team will not replace its former captain anytime soon. Rohit Sharma explained that Kohli’s new approach is a combination of the team's instruction and his personal initiative.

Sharma commented that “every player needs to buy into that thought process. Otherwise, you know, it's not gonna happen for you. And all the players, all the batters, who are part of this squad, are willing to take that extra risk and go and see what extra they can do with the bat”.

Despite that, Kohli must work hard as there are promising players that can take over his spot. People have named Deepak Hooda too. The T20I composition is important as it is likely the current team will play in the T20 World Cup.

Starting this Tuesday, India will face England again in a 3-game ODI series. People commented that the upcoming ODI series might not be India’s priority.

Responding to the commentary, Sharma said that “50-over cricket is an extension of T20 cricket. You might take slightly fewer risks than you do in T20s, but we have to take risks. It is not as if we won't take risks”.