Tilak Varma equals Suryakumar Yadav’s record with another impressive knock in 3rd T20I

Young Team India batter Tilak Varma continued the impressive start to his international career, scoring an unbeaten 49 off 37 balls in the third T20I against West Indies in Guyana on Tuesday.

Chasing 160 for victory, India got off to a poor start, losing debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal for 1 and Shubman Gill for 6. However, Tilak shared an 87-run stand for the third wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (83 off 44) as the Men in Blue registered a seven-wicket win in the must-win clash.

With his latest knock, which featured four fours and a six, Tilak became only the second Indian batter after Suryakumar to register 30-plus scores in each of his first three T20I innings. The left-handed batter scored 39 on his T20I debut and followed it up with 51 in the second T20I in Guyana.

Suryakumar kicked off his T20I career with scores of 57, 32 and 50. The 32-year-old was named Player of the Match for his swashbuckling innings in the third T20I. This was the batter’s 12th Man of the Match award, having featured in 51 T20Is.

Among Indian men’s players with the most Player of the Match awards in T20Is, Suryakumar is now joint-second on the list with Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli (15) tops the list.

During his wonderful innings, the right-handed batter also went past 100 sixes in T20Is. He is joint-second on the list of players with the fewest innings to hit 100 T20I sixes. Suryakumar and Chris Gayle have taken 49 innings each to hit 100 T20I sixes. Evin Lewis (48) is on top of the list.

Also, Suryakumar’s 83 off 44 balls is now second among the highest individual T20I scores registered at Providence in Guyana. The highest is 100 off 64 balls by former Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene (vs Zimbabwe in 2010).

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Kuldeep Yadav becomes the fastest Indian bowler to claim 50 T20I scalps

Team India left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav shone with the ball in the third T20I, registering figures of 3/28 from four overs. Following his impressive effort, Kuldeep broke Yuzvendra Chahal’s record of being the fastest Indian to claim 50 T20Is scalps.

While Chahal got to the mark in 34 matches, Kuldeep needed only 30 games to get there. Among full member nations, Ajanta Mendis (26) holds the record for having claimed 50 T20I wickets in the least number of games.