Suryakumar Yadav dedicates India debut to family, coach and fans

After years of toil in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL), Suryakumar Yadav eventually made his India debut in the second T20I of the 5-match series against England in Ahmedabad. The Mumbai batsman dedicated the special moment to his parents, sister, wife, coach and fans.

Suryakumar Yadav became the 85th cricketer to don the India cap in T20Is when he took the field for his country on Sunday. Though the 30-year-old didn’t get an opportunity to bat, the match ended on a happy note for him, with India leveling the series courtesy of a seven-wicket victory.

In a heartfelt post on Twitter, Suryakumar Yadav expressed his gratitude to those who stood by him.

This one is for my mom, dad, sister, my wife, my coach and all my well wishers.We dreamt together - we waited together - we full filled together 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/we0lAzqPve

— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) March 14, 2021

At the time of his national selection, an emotional Suryakumar Yadav had revealed to the BCCI website:

“I was very excited as I got to know about the selection. I was sitting in the room, trying to watch a movie, and got a notification on the phone that I was picked in the Indian team for England T20Is. I started crying after seeing my name in the team. I called my parents, my wife, and my sister. We had a video call, and all of us started crying.”

BIG DAY for @surya_14kumar & @ishankishan51 who are all set for their T20I debuts 😎😎What a moment for these two 🧢💙 #TeamIndia 🇮🇳🇮🇳#INDvENG @Paytm pic.twitter.com/cFVVxDgvIO

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 14, 2021

Suryakumar Yadav dropped Jonny Bairstow in the 14th over off Washington Sundar's bowling. Manning the deep square-leg boundary, he got fingertips to the ball that cleared his mistimed jump.

Three balls later, however, he pouched a juggling catch to send Bairstow packing.

pic.twitter.com/fSLArJ5uiD

— [email protected] (@pakas2009) March 14, 2021

His fellow debutant and Mumbai Indians teammate Ishan Kishan was the star with the bat in Ahmedabad. Kishan's 32-ball 56 set the tempo for India’s chase.

Suryakumar Yadav – a massive success in domestic cricket

Making his Mumbai debut as a teenager in 2010, Suryakumar Yadav made it big in the IPL as a finisher in the 2014 season for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In 2018, Mumbai Indians picked him up as a top-order batsman and since then he has been their most successful batter, helping the side win two IPLs.

In IPL 2020, Suryakumar Yadav slammed 480 runs, striking at 145.01. Despite his superlative show in Mumbai Indians’ title defense, he wasn't selected for the Australia tour. But with the T20 World Cup fast approaching, Yadav's call-up seems to have come at the right moment for him.

The Virat Kohli-Suryakumar Yadav incident during the IPL 2020 (Photo: Twitter)

This Game was an Answer to all those selectors 🔥 He is on a mission what a player 😢S.K.Y Suryakumar Yadav #Mi #RCB #MIvsRCB #IPL #BCCI #selectdugout @IPL @mipaltan @RCBTweets @surya_14kumar pic.twitter.com/G632SwE7q3

— 𝓢𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓷_ •Fly🤨 (@im_sacb) October 28, 2020

Apart from his T20 riches, Suryakumar Yadav has also been successful in first-class and List A cricket. In the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, which Mumbai won convincingly, Suryakumar Yadav got scores of 50, 29, 133, 29 and 91 from his five innings.