The world's leading T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav is seemingly immune to pressure. In fact, he prefers to put himself under pressure while in training mode ahead of a match.
Yadav's 360-degree skills once again stole the thunder in a T20 international on Saturday. His third century in the format, a 51-ball 112 not out, took India to a series-clinching 91-run win over Sri Lanka in the third and deciding T20I in Rajkot.
"It is really important to put pressure on yourself when you are preparing for the game. The more pressure you put, the better you can play. There is a lot of hard work involved. Some quality practice sessions are also involved," said Yadav after his match-winning knock.
India posted 228/5 and then bowled Sri Lanka out for 137.
The power-packed Surya innings, including 9 sixes and 7 fours, and his penchant for hitting sixes behind the wicket was further fueled by short boundaries in that part of the ground.
"The boundaries behind were 59-60m, so I tried to clear them. There are a few shots that are pre-determined, but you have to be ready for other strokes as well," he said.
Yadav said that the freedom he gets from head coach Rahul Dravid helps him play his natural free-flowing game.
"Most of the time I try to find the gap and use the field to my advantage. Dravid lets me enjoy and tells me to express myself," said Yadav.
In seven months, Yadav has racked up three white-ball centuries in the shortest format, while becoming the fastest 1500 T20I runs in terms of balls faced.
In 45 T20Is, the Mumbai-born cricketer has scored 1578 runs at an average of 46.41 and a strike-rate of 180.34 with three hundreds and 13 half-centuries to his name.
"I'm really happy with the way the innings went," Yadav added. "A few of my shots are pre-determined, but these are the shots I've been playing over the last year and I'm not doing anything different.
"So nothing new. It's a fresh start in 2023 and I hope to continue doing well."
(With PTI inputs)
