Suryakumar Yadav and Mitchell McClenaghan
Suryakumar Yadav was the talk of the town after he single-handedly led Mumbai Indians (MI) to a comprehensive five-wicket victory against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday. A couple of days after his omission from India's squads for Australia tour, the right-hander proved his batting calibre by hitting 79 off 43 deliveries.
Following his snub from India's tour Down Under, Suryakumar had a fitting response under his sleeve. He hammered 10 fours and three sixes during his whirlwind knock, proving why he needed to be in the list of players who're scheduled to board the flight to Australia.
Hunting down a challenging total of 164 runs, Surya came in the middle at No.3 and stuck to the crease until the end. He hit the winning boundary in the ultimate over, followed by a gesture indicating that 'he's here to stay'.
The BCCI has been facing criticism for the past two days. While the Indian board decided to introduce many fresh faces in the national side, their move to overlook Suryakumar irked many fans. Several prominent names of the cricket fraternity also backed Surya to get a national call-up.
Twitter was flooded after his match-defining show and most tweets were about his India snub. The likes of Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Ravi Shastri and Aakash Chopra hailed Suryakumar's awe-inspiring knock through their social media.
Meanwhile, MI pacer Mitchell McClenaghan heaped praise on Surya in a cheeky way while labelling him as 'India's Mr 360'. "India’s Mr.360 @surya_14kumar proper knock brother! Keep showing your quality - look great in Blue BTW," wrote McClenaghan on Twitter.
Since shifting his base to the Mumbai franchise, Suryakumar has been consistently delivering with his willow. In 2018, after being assigned opening role, Surya scored over 500 runs including four half-centuries. While in 2019, he amassed 424 runs at an average of 32.61. With 362 runs under his belt so far, he has managed to deliver in the on-going season too.
