Suryakumar Yadav’s outstanding performance during Mumbai Indians’ match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be long remembered by fans who witnessed his knock. MI secured a crucial victory by six wickets, moving to the third spot with 12 points at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
Chasing 200, MI had a good start, with opener Ishan Kishan attacking early on. Kishan and Rohit struck three fours off Josh Hazlewood in the second over. Kishan hit two consecutive sixes off Siraj. However, Hasaranga managed to dismiss Kishan (42 off 21) caught behind and then trap Rohit Sharma (7 off 8) lbw with a successful review. Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar Yadav then took a cautious yet aggressive approach, taking the score to 99/2 at the halfway mark. The pair then accelerated, hitting a six each in Hasaranga’s over.
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Up Above The World So High
Like A Diamond His Name Is SKY 🤩#TATAIPL | #MIvRCB | @surya_14kumar | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/EgUDqe7aao
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 9, 2023
Then, they scored 10 runs off Hazlewood and 17 runs off Harshal, bringing the equation down to 59 runs needed off 42 balls. Suryakumar Yadav reached his fifty in just 25 balls, hitting a four and a straight six off Siraj. He then hit two sixes off Hasaranga, followed by two sixes and a four off Vijaykumar Vyshak, but was caught by Vyshak soon after.
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On the very next ball, Vyshak dismissed David, leaving MI needing 7 runs off 24 balls. Wadhera then finished the match with a six, remaining unbeaten on 52 off 34 balls.
Earlier, RCB’s opening pair of Kohli and du Plessis started the innings, but Kohli was dismissed on the second ball of the match by Behrendorff. When RCB seemed to be struggling, Maxwell and du Plessis formed a 120-run partnership, dealing in boundaries for the next five overs. Behrendorff broke through the partnership and picked up his third wicket of the match, dismissing Maxwell.
This marked the end of RCB’s game-changing partnership, and they lost two more wickets in the following overs. Despite Karthik’s carnage in the 18th over, MI managed to restrict RCB to a score of 199/6.
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SKY, du Plessis achieve IPL milestones
During his stellar knock, Suryakumar also accomplished a significant feat in his IPL career by surpassing 3,000 runs. Throughout his IPL career, Yadav has averaged 30.82 with a strike rate of 141.45, scoring a total of 3,020 runs and smashing 20 half-centuries.
His best season was in 2018 when he made 512 runs in 14 matches at an average of 36.57 and a strike rate of 133.33, scoring four half-centuries, including his best score of 72. Although he had a slow start in the current season, Yadav has picked up his pace in the tournament, scoring 376 runs in 11 matches at an average of 34.18 and a strike rate of 186.18. He has hit four fifties, including his best score of 83, and ranking as the eighth-highest run-scorer of the season.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis also achieved a significant milestone after completing 1000 runs for the team in the Indian Premier League. During the match at the Wankhede Stadium, Faf reached his feat after an outstanding innings of 65 off 41 balls.
💬 💬 "He's one of the greats of the game at the moment." @faf1307 was wholesome in his praise for @surya_14kumar. 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/ooQkYwbrnL#TATAIPL | #MIvRCB | @mipaltan | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/tzTzQVKmlK
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 9, 2023
Faf joined RCB in 2022 as their captain and has so far played 27 IPL matches, scoring 1044 runs at an average of 41.76 and a strike rate of 142.62. He has nine half-centuries to his name with the team, with a best score of 96.
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In the current IPL season, Faf holds the ‘Orange cap’ with 576 runs in 11 matches, averaging 57.60 and a strike rate of 157.81, wht six fifties to his name. Faf made his IPL debut with Chennai Super Kings in 2012 and played 92 games for them, scoring 2721 runs at an average of 35.34 with 20 half-centuries. He also played for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, scoring 214 runs in eight matches with an average of over 30 and two fifties.
Overall, Faf has scored 3979 runs in his IPL career, playing 127 matches, averaging 36.50 and a strike rate of 133.93. He has 31 half-centuries in the tournament, with a best score of 96.
