If there is Suryakumar Yadav at the crease, nine out of 10 times fans can expect a healthy dose of entertainment. The same was repeated in the third T20I against Sri Lanka in Rajkot on Saturday. Coming to bat at No. 4, Suryakumar raced to his third T20I ton in just 45 balls as India cruised in the series decider. Suryakumar ultimately stayed unbeaten on 112. His innings included nine sixes and seven fours. Courtesy his ton, India scored 228/5 in 20 overs.
He came to bat in the sixth over, and started the onslaught from the eighth over. He began with a four and a six off Chamika Karunaratne. From there on, there was no stopping the India vice-captain. He was particularly ruthless towards Karunaratne, who was hit for two straight sixes by him in the 11th over. The most astonishing aspect of Suryakumar’s innings was the way he shuffled across the crease to hit the bowler at unimaginable angles.
Earlier, India captain Hardik Pandya elected to bat against Sri Lanka in the final T20I of the three-match series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday. India did not make any changes to their playing eleven from their last match in which they suffered 16-run defeat chasing a target of 207 runs. The two teams have won a match each in the series.
Sri Lanka made one change to their playing eleven from their last match. The visitors have brought in Avishka Fernando for Bhanuka Rajapaksa. India will be looking to win the third T20I and win the series to keep a clean bilateral record in the T20 format as they haven’t lost a home series since February 2019.
“We’ll bat first. Looks like a good track, the last time we played here, the ball did a bit, we might get more swing in the night. I don’t drag things, we just need to focus on playing good cricket in this game. We were not at our best in the last game, but we still stretched the match. No change for us,” said Hardik Pandya after winning the toss.
“We would have batted first as well. We wanted to set the tone upfront. We will approach the same way in this game – one change for us, Avishka Fernando replaces Bhanuka Rajapaksa,” said Dasun Shanaka during the toss.
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Tripathi, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Axar Patel, Shivam Mavi, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka
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