Asia Cup 2022: SKY is the limit - Why Suryakumar Yadav is India's best T20I batter currently

What Suryakumar Yadav has managed to do in these 17 months in the shortest format would definitely have been one of his own biggest fantasies when he was hoping against hope that he would be picked for the Indian national team. After all, that wait was a very long one. Suryakumar made his First Class and List A debuts for Mumbai in 2010. His First Class debut was in a Ranji Trophy match in December 2010 vs Delhi in Delhi. Batting at number six, right after Rohit Sharma, he scored 73 off 89 balls with 15 fours, in Mumbai's first innings. He was sent back thanks to a catch taken by Virat Kohli off the bowling of Pradeep Sangwan. In the second innings he managed to make just 7.

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Surya’s unbeaten knock came against Hong Kong -- a team comprising a bunch of semi-professionals, but still, his dominance was impressive. As he propelled India to a target that was beyond the batting credentials of Hong Kong, Virat Kohli bowed to him and decided to walk behind Surya back to the

But those who spot talent had already realised what he was capable of. After all this was just over 10 months after his List A debut for Mumbai. In that debut game he had scored a 35 ball 41, with five fours. Mumbai won that game by 78 runs. In his first full season for Mumbai (2011-12), Suryakumar topped the run charts for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. With time the legend of SKY grew in India's domestic circles. In the 2011 season the Mumbai Indians IPL franchise signed Suryakumar at a time when he had played just one First Class match. In 2014, the Kolkata Knight Riders brought him on board. Eventually he rose to the position of vice-captain for KKR, under Gautam Gambhir's captaincy.

(AP