Bridgetown [Barbados]: When Men in Blue will take to the field for the ICC T20 World Cup title clash against South Africa, all eyes will be on Suryakumar Yadav, India's top-ranked T20I batter.
The two undefeated sides in this edition, India will take on South Africa in the T20 WC title clash at Barbados on Saturday. While Proteas recorded an authoritative nine-wicket defeat to end Afghanistan's dream campaign, India took its revenge by defeating England by 68 runs in a repeat of the 2022 T20 WC semis clash.
Suryakumar has impressed in this tournament so far, playing match-saving knocks against the USA and Afghanistan on the road to semis. Suryakumar also came in clutch against Australia and England in Super Eights and semis respectively, with crucial and brisk knocks of 31 and 47 runs.
In seven matches, Suryakumar has scored 196 runs at an average of 32.66 and a strike rate of 137.06, with the best score of 53. He has scored two half-centuries this tournament and is the ninth-highest run-getter this tournament.
In six matches against South Africa, Suryakumar has scored 343 runs at an average of 68.60 and a strike rate of 177.72. He has scored a century and four fifties against Proteas, with the best score of 100.
Suryakumar has played some crucial knocks against South Africa in his career. During the T20 WC 2022, he played a knock of 68 in 40 balls, with six fours and three sixes on a Perth surface where other Indian batters struggled. It helped India reach 133/9, which Proteas could chase only after a great fight in 19.4 overs with five wickets in hand. In his last outing against South Africa, Suryakumar played as a captain and scored a match and series-winning 100 in just 56 balls, with seven fours and eight sixes.
During this tournament, Suryakumar has thrived against big opponents and crunch situations. One more big or impactful knock from him could make him a T20 WC winner. Will he be crucial in India's win. Only time will tell.
Squads:
India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal
South Africa Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin, Ryan Rickelton.
—ANI