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Virat Kohli termed it as “another video game innings” on Twitter, and with solid reason: Suryakumar Yadav bashed 111 unbeaten runs out of the team’s total of 191, on the way crashing 11 of the 18 boundaries India hit, and seven of their nine sixes, while facing just 51 balls. In a terrific display of creative and fearless T20 hitting typical of him, Suryakumar helped India plunder 72 off the last five overs. This, despite not getting to face a single delivery in the final over, where Tim Southee got a hat-trick.Hardik Pandya just watched from the other end as Suryakumar toyed with an international bowling line-up which he made look ordinary. And with 192 to get, New Zealand’s chase only kept crawling from the start: their powerplay fetched just 32 runs with only three boundaries, laying perhaps the perfect foundation for them to flounder; and at 85 for 3 after 12 overs with Glenn Phillips gone, the required run rate of above 13 an over meant the match was all but decided.Suryakumar defies logic, the bowling, and everything else
In what is turning out to be a defining year for him – he is already the highest run-getter in T20Is in 2022 – Suryakumar’s second T20I century of the year was perhaps different only in that it came in a winning cause.Suryakumar brought out his trademark scoop for four over the wicketkeeper’s head just fourth ball despite being beaten for two consecutive deliveries before it. Typical T20 stuff: swing and a miss, but not bothered about next ball.Ishan Kishan kept struggling after Rishabh Pant fell for a low score for which he had jostled himself, but Suryakumar knew he had to go only one way, especially with rain in the air. The rest of India’s batting scored 69 in as many deliveries – there were 11 extras too in the total – and that told the story of how many miles ahead Suryakumar was of his team-mates.His first six came off Mitchell Santner, as he fetched a ball from wide outside off only to slog sweep and deposit it over fine leg. Then came the lofts over the off side: Santner’s first ball off the 11th over was scythed behind point, and Ish Sodhi’s first of the 12th was placed to deep extra cover with high elbows.But Suryakumar had reserved special treatment for Lockie Ferguson: with eight overs to go and India’s total still under a hundred, he drove and whipped the fast bowler for a four and six, respectively. That was Act 1 of Suryakumar vs Ferguson.Suryakumar brought up his fifty off 32 balls in the 16th over, and with time running out, got into Southee to start the 17th: a six swung across the line over midwicket, and a whip to the same region for four, albeit helped by a misfield. Two balls later, he adjusted to thrash at a short ball outside off despite making room early.

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Runs came from everywhere: inside-out lofts over cover and mid-off, and whips and flicks over fine leg. The platform for Act 2 of Suryakumar vs Ferguson had been laid: 4, 0, 4, 4, 4, 6 in the 19th over. The third boundary brought up his hundred off 49 balls, but three other shots were jaw-dropping: the first four was sliced over short third after opening the bat face very late, the fifth was tickled over the wicketkeeper in spite of the short length and the ball rising close to his shoulder, and the six was flung over short third again as he opened the bat face to a length that seemed too full to even have a go.Deepak Hooda is congratulated by team-mates upon dismissing Daryl Mitchell•Getty Images

New Zealand limp in big chaseKane Williamson consumed 52 balls to score 61. It didn’t help either that the new ball swung appreciably for India in the powerplay, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissing Finn Allen second ball.New Zealand’s required rate had raced past 11 after the first six overs, after which came the only phase when they seemed like attacking. Williamson and Devon Conway picked 17 off Washington Sundar’s first over, before he hit back by dismissing Conway first ball of the ninth for a tame 25 off 22 deliveries.Glenn Phillips crushed his first ball for four and even flung a six off Yuzvendra Chahal to signal early aggressive intent, but fell for 12 off six balls as Chahal teased him by slowing down pace on the ball in the tenth over.Not a single boundary was hit between Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham and Mitchell Santner for 33 balls after that six from Phillips, by which time, New Zealand’s fate was nearly sealed. They were 111 for 6 after 17 overs, after which Williamson got to his fifty off his 48th delivery.With the result obvious, Deepak Hooda came on to bowl the penultimate over, and dismissed Sodhi, Southee and Adam Milne in the space of four deliveries to wrap up a timid day for the hosts.

Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori pointed to Kane Richardson’s death-bowling prowess as he defended the decision to leave out pace bowler Mitchell Starc for their match against Afghanistan on Friday. Starc was used as a third or fourth bowling option – as opposed to a new-ball bowler – for the best part of the men’s T20 World Cup 2022 and was replaced by Richardson in the XI for their final group game, after an extended drop in form.Related

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“It was a tactical decision [to leave out Starc],” Vettori said after the match. “We brought in Kane to play the role he executed tonight at the back-end of the powerplay, looking at the death overs where Kane has been exceptional in the past. We were looking to use Josh Hazlewood at the start and implement a plan around him and Pat [Cummins] being effective with the new ball and pushed Mitch into a role where he’s competing with Kane Richardson, especially at the death where everyone thought Kane excels.”Starc’s T20I economy rate at the death (overs 17-20) has risen from 8.66 to 10.30 in the last three years, while Richardson’s corresponding figure is 9.50. However, in a game Australia needed to win by a huge margin to sneak ahead of England on net run rate, Richardson had a difficult outing, conceding 16 in the one death over he bowled, and 48 in four overs – his third-most expensive T20I figures. In the end, any hopes of a huge victory quickly evaporated, with Australia eking out a four-run win.Mitchell Starc picked up three wickets in three matches at an economy rate of 8.50•Getty Images

Vettori, however, said the decision to leave Starc out was a product of relying on Hazlewood and Cummins for wickets up top.”It was more around the effectiveness of Hazlewood and Cummins at the top and their ability to take the new ball and be wicket-takers, and therefore that pushed Starcy into a different role, and he obviously came up against Kane Richardson,” he said. “It was thought among the hierarchy that Kane is exceptional at the death and we’ll utilise him there as opposed to Mitch. Players can [be flexible], particularly in their home country where you have a bigger sample size; you’ve seen Kane in the Big Bash and internationals and understand how effective he can be in this format.”I think we’ll reflect on that and Kane would say he probably missed a couple at the backend of two overs. But apart from that the majority of his spell was what we expected. So if that had been tidied up he would have had a great day.”The decision to leave Starc out for such a big game led to criticism from former Australian cricketers, including Michael Clarke and Tom Moody, who called it “very alarming”.”That really surprises me,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo T20 Time:Out. “There must be something more to it than a tactical selection. I would be alarmed if they think that is the tactical way to go about trying to bowl Afghanistan out for less than 100.”Even Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott couldn’t help but express surprise at Australia’s decision to line up without Starc.”It was a little bit of a surprise to us,” he said at the post-match press conference. “We heard there were rumours but you never want to preempt or suggest injuries. So you prepare for any inevitability. We’re not sure why Starc didn’t play, but Richardson came in and replaced Starc. So we had to adjust to that a little bit as well.”We thought Starc was going to play. We prepared for that. Obviously we saw Richardson marking his run-up. That was a real surprise for us – we don’t know any reason.”

Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood rued the lack of discipline from his bowlers after his side’s 67-run loss to India in the first ODI in Guwahati.Sri Lanka had put India in after winning the toss but Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill seized the momentum for the hosts with a 143-run stand in just 19.4 overs. Virat Kohli then scored his 45th ODI hundred to help India post a daunting 373 for 7.Related

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“Obviously, we didn’t get off to the best start,” Silverwood said after the match. “If I have to be brutally honest, our discipline in the first ten overs was lacking at times, and we allowed India to get off to a good start. This is a high-scoring ground. India knew that they had to get off to a good start and we allowed them to do that.”They gained momentum from that and we had to push back all the time to try to put the brakes on. And I think we did that for a period of time. But when you have a class batting line-up as India have, then it’s difficult to stop them.”Sri Lanka’s fielding was found wanting as well. They dropped Kohli twice, first on 52 and then on 81. He went on to score 113 off just 87 balls.”Yeah, obviously they were costly,” Silverwood said of the dropped catches. “The moments like that are very critical in a game like this – we knew it was going to be a high-scoring one. And we all know if you give a player of Virat’s calibre opportunities, he would take it. And that’s exactly what he did today.”Of course, it was an excellent knock but had we taken those opportunities he presented, you never know.”In response, Sri Lanka were 206 for 8 at one stage before their captain Dasun Shanaka added 100 with Kasun Rajitha in an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership. Shanaka finished with an unbeaten 108 but his innings only reduced the margin of the defeat.Shanaka was Sri Lanka’s highest run-getter during the T20I series as well. While Silverwood lauded Shanaka, he didn’t agree the side was overly reliant on him, pointing out that Pathum Nissanka too scored 72 on Tuesday and added 72 with Dhananjaya de Silva for the fourth wicket.

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“I think he [Shanaka] has done himself a world of good,” Silverwood said. “He has put himself in the marketplace now. I am sure the [IPL] franchises will be looking at him [Shanaka was unsold at the auction] and seeing how dynamic a cricketer he is. He is a great striker of the ball, so hopefully, he will get an opportunity.”[But] I don’t think we rely [only] on Dasun. He is in a great vein of form at the moment, so obviously he is shining. If you look, we had Pathum also score runs today. I thought the partnership between him and Dhananjaya gave us some momentum when they were together.”We have seen over a period of time that each individual at times has put their hand up and been counted. So I am not overly worried about that. Obviously, we need them to put their hands up more, especially on very good tracks like this, to put that fight up, to build partnerships. So that’s a constant work.”With just one day’s gap before the next game, Sri Lanka will also be fretting about Dilshan Madushanka’s injury. The left-arm seamer had walked off when he hurt his right shoulder while trying to make a stop in the field. Silverwood said he would go for an X-ray to make sure everything is okay.

South Africa 264 for 6 (Klaasen 119*, Joseph 3-50) beat West Indies 260 for 9 (King 72, Fortuin 2-46) by four wickets Heinrich Klaasen’s second ODI century led South Africa to a series-levelling victory over West Indies in a non-Super League contest. Chasing 261 on a fairly flat surface in Potchefstroom, South Africa were in some trouble on 87 for 4 before Klaasen shared in a half-century stand with David Miller and a 103-run partnership with Marco Jansen, and notched up the fourth-fastest century by a South African to make light work of the target.The result denied West Indies the opportunity to win their third away bilateral series since 2011, and their first against a team ranked in the top eight. They have also never won a bilateral ODI series in South Africa and last claimed a fifty-over trophy here 30 years ago, when they were successful in a triangular series which also involved Pakistan.On reflection, West Indies will look at the performance of their middle order, who squandered a strong start – they were 110 for 1 – and lost 6 for 96 between overs 19 and 40. They did not bat out their overs but gave the attack something to defend with 50 runs off the last 50 balls faced. Their bowlers started well against a South African line-up missing Quinton de Kock (rested) and Temba Bavuma (injured) but Klaasen’s clean-hitting turned it into a no-contest as South Africa won with more than 20 overs to spare.Klaasen was called on after a vicious opening spell by Alzarri Joseph and the departure of stand-in captain Aiden Markram, with a job to do. Joseph sent down a fiery short-ball barrage to remove makeshift opener Ryan Rickelton who fended him to Kyle Mayers at first slip, and No. 3 Rassie van der Dussen who was rushed into the pull shot. Markram saw out the powerplay but then edged a Mayers’ legcutter to Shai Hope to bring Klaasen into play in the 11th over. Nine balls later, West Indies’ successfully reviewed an Akeal Hosein lbw appeal against Tony de Zorzi, that ball-tracking showed was going to hit middle-stump. South Africa were in trouble at 87 for 4.The tension was broken when Klaasen hung back in his crease to dispatch Hosein’s for two fours in the over, something that would become a feature of his innings. He pulled Joseph for back-to-back-to-back fours to end the threat West Indies’ spearhead posed and then launched Odean Smith over deep mid-wicket for the first of his five sixes. David Miller was largely spectator but sent fuller balls from Hosein and Smith for six before handing Hosein a simple return catch.Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen added 103 runs off 62 balls for the sixth wicket to revive South Africa’s chase•AFP/Getty Images

With a slightly shorter batting line-up than usual, South Africa could have unraveled but Marco Jansen, on his home ground, proved up to the task. He scored six runs off the first nine balls he faced before he brought out the reverse sweep against legspinner Yannic Cariah and did it twice in three balls. Jansen took a liking to Cariah and scored 14 runs off his next over, including a six over mid-wicket.By the halfway mark of their innings, South Africa needed just 55 more runs and were scoring at more than eight runs to the over. Klaasen was in the eighties and it took only one Jason Holder over to move him to 99. He reached his hundred with a single off Joseph, off the 54th ball he faced. Jansen was on his way to a first ODI fifty but in his eagerness to get there, guided a Joseph ball to Shamarh Brooks at backward point to leave Wayne Parnell to finish off.Earlier, West Indies’ innings started well when Mayers took advantage of width from Lungi Ngidi and West Indies racked up 39 runs off the first seven overs. But Mayers was already dismissed after he miscued a pull off Jansen, with Ngidi, at mid-on, back-pedalling to take a diving catch.Brandon King continued batting positively and reached his fourth ODI half-century with a slash off 60 balls. King and Shamarh Brooks’ second-wicket stand was starting to show promise when Brooks called for a run but King did not respond and Brook slipped on his way back to his crease. He was run-out for 18, and the partnership ended on 71. It turned out to be the highest in the West Indian innings.Ngidi was brought back after the run-out and King seemed happy to see him. He creamed a half-volley through the covers to enter the 70s but Ngidi had the last laugh. In his next over, King was on his toes trying to play a short ball but chipped it onto his stumps.Nicholas Pooran punished short balls from Coetzee and Ngidi and slog-swept Fortuin over long-on to take West Indies to 148 for 3 at the halfway stage, with 300 in their sights. They finished well short after Markram brought himself on to hold an end and produced the most economical performance of his career. His 10 overs cost just 30 runs and he claimed the wicket of Jason Holder, who was beaten by turn and stumped. By then, Hope had attempted to whip Bjorn Fortuin over short mid-wicket but only found David Miller, Rovman Powell was beaten in flight and stumped, Nicholas Pooran had been bounced out and Carirah was strangled down the leg-side. Smith’s run-a-ball 17 provided some late fireworks but West Indies would have felt they were below-par, and later realised how far off the pace they were.