In the current Indian Premier League 2023, Suryakumar Yadav kept up his hot streak. In the 54th Match, contested at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the batsmen for the Mumbai Indians dominated the bowlers for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In response to RCB’s massive total, MI needed to score 200 runs to win. This was made possible by early assaults from Glenn Maxwell (68 off 33 balls) and Faf du Plessis (65 off 41 balls), as well as late blows from Dinesh Karthik.
Suryakumar batted third after Ishan Kishan’s rapid 42-run performance off only 21 deliveries. Surya continued hitting everything that was pitched up to him, and the RCB bowlers seemed completely befuddled. In just 26 balls, he scored fifty. The 32-year-old upped his pace after the milestone and stole the game from the du Plessis-led team.
In the 15th over, du Plessis passed the baton to Hasaranga, the strike bowler. But Surya didn’t stop. He hit two sixes off consecutive balls in the first three he faced. With his second six, he scored 3,000 runs in IPL history. Thanks to his daring knock, MI took the initiative and needed less than six runs per over at the conclusion of the 15th over.
Suryakumar Yadav achieves a feat in IPL; reaches the 3000th run mark
The following over saw the return of pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak for his third of the inning. A waist-high no-ball maximum and two straight boundaries from Surya drained the life out of the bowler’s over. Surya scored 83 runs off 35 balls, but Vyshak got the final laugh by dismissing him. This effectively ended the match to Mumbai’s advantage. When he was taken out, MI needed just 8 runs to win with 26 balls remaining. MI cruised to victory thanks to a 140-run partnership from Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar, with the latter smashing a six to seal the deal and guarantee victory.
With this win, the Mumbai Indians rocketed up the IPL 2023 Points Table to third place, behind the Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings, and drew ever closer to the last playoff slot.
The batting-friendly surface in Mumbai helped Suryakumar Yadav to a magnificent performance, and he now ranks as the fourth most successful batter (in terms of runs scored) for the Mumbai-based franchise in the history of the Indian Premier League.
At his current average of 33.50 and strike rate of above 140, Suryakumar has scored 2412 runs in 78 innings. He’s now number four on the elite list, only behind Rohit Sharma (4900), Kieron Pollard (3412), and Ambati Rayudu (2416).
The 83 he scored against RCB is also his personal best; he has 19 scores of 50 or more for the five-time victors.
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