'Still feels like a dream to be seen and called as world's no.1 T20I batter' – Suryakumar Yadav
I wanted to be the best when I started playing T20 cricket - SKY
India’s newest batting sensation Suryakumar Yadav is living his dream of being a number one batter in T20Is. Having made his debut in this format in 2021 only, Surya has achieved so much in so little time, something not only he but everyone is proud of.
In a recent exclusive chat with PTI, SKY, as he is often known by his fans, opened up about a lot of things including his success in the shortest format, what he thinks about making his potential red-ball debut against Australia next year and much more.
2022 has been a super year for the India batter. This year SKY scored two T20I hundreds - one against England in Nottingham and one against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, thus becoming only the second Indian batter after Rohit Sharma to achieve this feat. Apart from this, his run in the T20 World Cup was impressive too – where he was the third-highest run-scorer (239) and had a whopping strike-rate of 189.68 to his name.
Talking about his rise in this format and living his dream, Suryakumar said, “It still feels like a dream. To be seen and called as world's No. 1 T20 batter, if someone would have told me one year back, I don't know how I would have reacted. When I started playing this format, I wanted to be the best and I worked hard for it.
Surya was last seen during the New Zealand series right after the World Cup and since then he has been on well-deserved rest. With India now scheduled to face Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the white-ball series at home early next year, SKY will be returning to action.
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However, going forward he also would like to replicate his white-ball performance in Tests as well if given a chance. As Australia is slated to tour India for the four Tests (that are also part of the WTC cycle) in February next year, Suryakumar will remain in reckoning for a Test call-up.
When asked about if he fancy his chances of making a Test debut in India’s next assignment, the star T20I batter said, “I started playing age-group national level cricket in red ball, so the answer lies there itself. There are a lot of tricky yet fascinating situations that you encounter across five days and you want to embrace that challenge. Yes, I am ready if they (Indian team management) need me.”
