IND vs AUS: T20 beast Suryakumar Yadav powered India to a record win over Australia in the first T20I of a five-match series as the Men in Blue chased down their highest successful T20I chase on Thursday. Following Josh Inglis' century, the Indians were under the pump and needed something spectacular off their sleeves to pull off a 209-run chase at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. India's stand-in captain provided that fire when he played a masterful knock of 80 from 42 balls to help the hosts win by 2 wickets.
Suryakumar Yadav was pleased with the way the team performed on his captaincy debut. He stated that captaining India was a 'big moment' in his career. Notably, the star batter has now achieved what even the likes of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli could not do on their T20I captaincy debut. Suryakumar has become only the second Indian to win the Player of the Match honour of captaincy debut in the 20-over International format. Before him, only Jasprit Bumrah held the record. The 29-year-old Bumrah became the first Indian to win a Player of the Match award on T20I captaincy debut when he led the team in a series against Ireland in August 2023.
Suryakumar is the 13th player to lead the Indian team in a T20I game. Before him, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Ruturaj Gaikwad had led India in a T20I game. But apart from Bumrah none of the other players were able to win Player of the Match of T20I captaincy debut.
Indians to win Player of the Match of T20I captaincy debut
Jasprit Bumrah - August 2023 vs Ireland
Suryakumar Yadav - November 2023 vs Australia
India registered their highest successful chase when SKY, Ishan Kishan and Rinku Singh helped the team gun down 209 runs in the first T20I in Visakhapatnam. Surya made 80 from 42 balls and partnered Kishan for a 112-run stand for the 3rd wicket. Kishan started slowly but covered with a 30-ball 58-run knock. Following the departure of the two, Rinku held fort and played a knock of 22 from 14 balls to take India over the finishing line on the final ball. Earlier, Josh Inglis scored a spectacular 50-ball 110, while Mukesh Kumar starred in the bowling department with a miserly spell
