Suryakumar Yadav has been in terrific form for quite some time now. He has scored 965 runs in the T20 format and continued his form in the ongoing T20 World Cup. For the Men in Blue, Surya has amassed two half-centuries and has become the No.1 batter in T20Is. 

Talking to ICC’s Digital Daily, Surya said, “I am really happy with it [No.1 ranking] and it has been hard work all the way. Reaching (No.1) was very difficult, but I think staying here will be more difficult. It will be a challenge, but I will try my best.”

“The freedom from the [team] management is a big boost for any player because the number at which I bat there is a lot of pressure when you go into bat.

“I feel the way they have handled me and given me a green signal to go out there and express fearlessly and I enjoy what I do wherever I am in the side, even if I get out. Out of 10 times, if I am succeeding seven times why not take a positive route?”

“What I have learned about my game and what I have read about T20 cricket is after 7 overs till 15 overs all other teams try to control the game and that is the phase where I try and challenge myself and take the game on and bat with a healthy strike rate, so that batters who are coming later to finish the game, the job gets easier for them,” he further added. 

The Mumbai-based batter is just 35 runs away from becoming the second batsman to score 1000  runs in T20Is in a calendar year after Rizwan.  The Indian team will play Zimbabwe on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

India Squad: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal.