In the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, the Indian team played its first match against the United States of America (USA) on February 7th (Saturday). Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav delivered an exceptional performance in this match. With the aid of 10 fours and four sixes, Suryakumar scored an unbeaten 84 runs off 49 balls.
During this innings, Suryakumar Yadav surpassed the milestone of 1000 runs in T20 Internationals as a captain. It was also his debut match as a captain in the T20 World Cup. Suryakumar has now become the batsman with the second-largest innings played on his T20 World Cup debut as a captain.
Suryakumar Yadav surpassed players like Babar Azam (Pakistan), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), and Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh). In this context, Suryakumar stands second only to Chris Gayle of the West Indies, who scored 88 runs against Australia at The Oval in 2009.
88 Chris Gayle vs Australia, The Oval, 200984* Suryakumar Yadav vs USA, Wankhede, 202668* Babar Azam vs India, Dubai 202165 Mahela Jayawardene vs Canada, Johannesburg, 200761 Mohammad Ashraful vs West Indies, Johannesburg, 2007
During his innings, Suryakumar Yadav targeted fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar. In the 16th over, Netravalkar conceded 21 runs. In the innings' final over, he leaked the same amount of runs again. Netravalkar ended up giving away 65 runs in his four overs without taking any wickets. It was the most expensive bowling in a T20 World Cup match, breaking the record set by Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, who had conceded 64 runs against Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
Thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's superb innings, the Indian team managed to post a total of 161 runs for the loss of 9 wickets against the USA. Six Indian wickets had fallen for 77 runs, but then Surya's brigade managed to stage a comeback in the match.
