Suryakumar Yadav set to make his debut in the 1st T20I against England
Suryakumar Yadav is all set to make his international debut at the end of a long wait. The 30-year-old will be taking the field tomorrow in the 1st T20I against England.
Though Virat Kohli did not reveal anything in this regard at the recent press conference, the Mumbai cricketer has himself confirmed the news. On his Instagram story, he shared a post by Sahil Khan, a fitness and youth icon, where the news was broken.
"Big HUNK Announcement: Suryakumar Yadav Going to debut Tomorrow in International Cricket. Best of luck Brother for Your India vs England series," the caption of the post read.
Suryakumar Yadav also commented on that post with some emoticons. In his reply to this comment, Sahil Khan wrote: "India is proud of you brother".
Suryakumar Yadav's long wait to make it to the big stage
Donning the India Blue hasn't come easily for Suryakumar Yadav. Despite consistent performances in domestic cricket and in the Indian Premier League (IPL), he has been constantly overlooked by selectors.
After a great IPL 2020, many were taken aback when he wasn't picked in the T20I squad for the tour of Australia.
However, Suryakumar Yadav has kept on churning out big runs day in and day out to finally bulldoze his way into the team.
Suryakumar Yadav is vastly experienced in the shortest format of the game. He has featured in 170 T20 games. In 150 innings, he has mustered 3,567 runs at an average close to 32 and a strike rate slightly over 140.
In the last three IPL seasons, Yadav has been brilliant with the bat. In the 2018 edition of the tournament, he scored 512 runs in 14 games, a commendable effort for a middle-order batsman.
In 2019 and 2020, he played a crucial part in Mumbai Indians' (MI) victorious runs. While he accrued 424 runs in IPL 2019, he upped his game in IPL 2020. He scored 480 runs in 16 matches in the last edition of the league at an average of 40. His strike rate of 145 was also quite impressive and he added a wide array of shots to his arsenal during this tournament.