Sunil Gavaskar has showered praise on Suryakumar Yadav for injecting ‘game awareness’ into India’s T20 setup after their emphatic 61-run thrashing of Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday. The former opener dissected Surya’s captaincy with expert insight.
‘Suryakumar read the game brilliantly, making spot-on decisions,’ Gavaskar observed. ‘You tailor your play to the situation, and he led by example. He saved India from 77/6 against USA. Batting against Pakistan from 88/2, his 32 off steady overs till the 19th kept the scoreboard ticking without risks—strike rate be damned when wickets matter.’
In T20’s fast lane, Gavaskar stressed balancing boundary hunts with smarts. Dots hurt, but so do rash shots. Pitch, momentum, wind—all factor in. ‘Suryakumar delivers this intelligence to the side,’ he concluded.
Pakistan’s toss win led to bowling first, but India’s 175/7 proved too steep. Kishan’s 77 (40 balls) lit up the innings, with Suryakumar (32), Dube (27), Varma (25) chipping in. Pakistan managed 114 in 18 overs. Bowling heroes: Pandya, Bumrah, Axar, Chakaravarthy (2 each); Kuldeep, Varma (1 each). Player of the Match: Ishan Kishan.
As India marches on, Suryakumar’s blend of instinct and strategy signals a new era of T20 dominance.