Scoring a T20I century and finding adjectives to describe shots played by India vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav in the ongoing third T20I against Sri Lanka in Rajkot are both high-difficulty tasks. Yadav, who has developed a proper knack of playing these blinder of an innings in the shortest format, not only tests the bowlers but also tests anyone who has to articulate his atypically freakish shots.
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Yadav, 32, appears to be in such a form where neither of conditions, oppositions or batting positions matter to him. Coming in to bat at No. 4 around the end of the powerplay, Yadav executed his sole intention of playing super-attacking eye-catching shots to a tee to power India to 228/5 in 20 overs after captain Hardik Pandya (4) won the toss and chose to bat in a series-decider.
In the process, Yadav also powered himself to a third T20I century which was made possible after he hit a Kasun Rajitha full-toss to sweeper cover for a single in the penultimate over.
Making batting look exceedingly easy, Yadav playing such impact-generating knocks time and again makes batting look incredibly difficult for his teammates for they are nowhere near him in terms of consistently playing game-changing knocks in this format. With Shubman Gill (46) hardly being able to generate any sort of momentum, Yadav was instrumental in playing boundary shots on a continuous basis.
Yadav, who ended up scoring 112* (51) consisting of seven fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 219.60, reached the three-figure mark on the 45th ball that he faced. The fact that this is Yadav’s third instance of scoring a T20I ton in just his 43rd innings speaks highly about his unrivaled conversation rate especially among batters belonging to Full Member Nations.
Suryakumar Yadav T20 centuries list in international cricket (Updated)
| S. No. | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR | Opposition | Ground | Year |
| 1 | 117 | 55 | 14 | 6 | 212.72 | England | Nottingham | 2022 |
| 2 | 111* | 51 | 11 | 7 | 217.64 | New Zealand | Mount Maunganui | 2022 |
| 3 | 112* | 51 | 7 | 9 | 219.6 | Sri Lanka | Rajkot | 2023 |
| 4 | 100 | 56 | 7 | 8 | 178.57 | South Africa | Johannesburg | 2023 |
