&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘A dream turned into reality’: Suryakumar Yadav reflects on completing five years in international cricket")
India’s T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, completed five years in international cricket on Saturday (Mar 14) and celebrated the milestone with an emotional message on social media. The right-handed batter made his international debut at the age of 30 in a T20 match against England on 14 Mar, 2021. Since then, he has become one of India’s best batters in the format and has also won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup twice.
In his message, Suryakumar said that playing for India was a dream come true and a feeling he still finds hard to describe. He also expressed hope for creating many more memorable moments with the team in the future.
“5 years ago, a dream turned into reality. Wearing the India jersey is a feeling I can still never fully put into words… Here’s to many more memories that we’re going to create…” said Suryakumar in the post.
So far, Suryakumar has played 113 T20 Internationals and scored 3,272 runs, at an average of 36.35 and an impressive strike rate of 162.94. During this time, he has hit four centuries and 25 half-centuries. He is currently India’s third-highest run-scorer in T20Is, behind Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. His four centuries are also the joint second-most in T20I cricket, along with Glenn Maxwell, while Rohit leads the list with five.
Suryakumar played an important role in India’s victory at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. One of the most memorable moments of the final came when he took a brilliant catch near the boundary to dismiss David Miller.
After Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from T20 internationals following that tournament, Suryakumar was appointed India’s T20I captain. Under his leadership, India has played 52 matches, winning 40 and losing only eight, giving him a win percentage of 76.94.
He also holds a unique record in T20I cricket, as a first player to score centuries in four different countries, India, South Africa, England and New Zealand. In 2022, he had an outstanding year, scoring 1,164 runs in 31 matches at an average of 46.56 and a strike rate of 187.43. He also became the first Indian male cricketer to score over 1,000 runs in T20 internationals in a single calendar year.
