Suryakumar Yadav and Arjun Tendulkar
Continuing his impressive form with the bat, Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman Suryakumar Yadav slammed a blistering 120 in a practice game ahead of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Suryakumar, leading Team B, hammered ten fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 255.32 against Team D, captained by Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Suryakumar, during his whirlwind innings, also smacked Arjun Tendulkar 21 runs in the 13th over of the game. 21-year-old Arjun seemed helpless against an in-form Surya who took him to the cleaners.
The left-arm pacer, however, made a comeback in the death and ended up with figures of 1/33 in his four overs. On the back of Suryakumar's 47-ball 120, Team B posted 213 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
Suryakumar was one of the integral stars of Mumbai Indians (MI) this season, scoring 480 runs for the five-time champions. His best innings came against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) where he scored 79* off 43 at Abu Dhabi and single-handedly led MI to the victory.
Despite his impressive form in the UAE, the 30-year-old failed to get into the national squad for the all-important Australia tour. He wasn't included in any of the three squads currently competing Down Under.
The right-hander's omission from the national set-up, especially the T20I squad, had led to a furore on social media. Many cricketers including Harbhajan Singh had called for Suryakumar's selection in the Indian side.
Recently, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra had also predicted Surya and Ishan Kishan finding a place in the Indian T20I set-up against England next year.
"Both Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are knocking the doors and considering the number of our players that are getting injured, I feel they might even get to play against England," Chopra had said on his Facebook page.
