Suryakumar Yadav smashed his maiden T20I hundred against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Sunday. However, his brilliant show, which included 14 boundaries and six maximums, went in vain as India lost the third T20I by 17 runs. 

Yadav, who played for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022, brought his ton in 48 balls. The 31-year-old went on to score 117 runs off 55 deliveries. 

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Suryakumar Yadav now is the fifth Indian to score a century in T20Is. Skipper Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, KL Rahul, and Deepak Hooda are the others. The dashing batter is also the second to reach the three-figure mark in the format batting at No 4 or below – KL Rahul is the first. 

Chasing a mammoth 216-run target, India were reduced to 31/3 in the fifth over. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant were all sent back to the pavilion. However, Surya stood up to the English lineup and counter-attacked. He stitched a record 119-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shreyas Iyer (28) to stabilise the Indian innings. 

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Yadav’s first 50 came in 32 balls and the next one off 15. He was one run short of equalling Rohit’s record for the highest score by an Indian in T20Is. 

Several fans and former cricketers praised Surya, also known as SKY, for his effort. 

“Remember the name….SKY!” former India opener Gautam Gambhir tweeted. 

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“Amazing ?@surya_14kumar! There were quite a few brilliant shots but those scoop 6️⃣s over point were just spectacular,” cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar said. 

“Wow SKY! Surya shining at it’s brightest. Crazy hitting,” Virender Sehwag said on Twitter. 

Here are some other reactions:

Earlier, skipper Jos Buttler (18 off 9 balls) and Jason Roy (27 off 26) helped England reach 52 for 1 in six overs. Malan and Liam Livingstone (42 not out off 29) then shared an entertaining 84-run partnership to set the platform for a massive total.

India eventually won the series 2-1.