Suryakumar Yadav played a virtuoso innings for India as his rapid century set up a series-clinching 91-run victory against Sri Lanka in Rajkot.
In the third T20I, a one-sided tussle at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Yadav blazed his way to 112 not out from 51 balls as India piled up 228-5, setting the tourists a daunting target. He got to three figures from just 45 deliveries.
India then limited Sri Lanka to 137 all out, sealing a 2-1 series success after the teams split the first two matches, both far tighter affairs than this spectacle.
Yadav’s third T20I century contained nine sixes and seven fours, as he went after Sri Lanka’s attack and flayed them unrelentingly. Coming in at 52-2 after 5.5 overs, Yadav followed his 117 against England last July and his 111 against New Zealand in November with another devastatingly brutal innings.
Shubman Gill (46), Rahul Tripathi (35) and Axar Patel (21no) performed well, but it was the Yadav show and they were merely a supporting cast.
Sri Lanka needed a fast start, and they got that, but openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka both fell with the team score at 44, and Avishka Fernando followed soon after.
Wickets kept tumbling and it became clear Sri Lanka would not find a Yadav-like effort from within their ranks, with Arshdeep Singh finishing the rout by bowling Dilshan Madushanka to complete match-best figures of 3-20.
Sri Lanka find no answer to India assault
This was India’s fourth-biggest win, by runs, in T20Is. Their heaviest win remains the 143-run victory over Ireland in Dublin in 2018, followed by a 101-run win over Afghanistan in Dubai in 2022 and a 93-run success against South Africa in 2017.
Yadav closes in on Rohit
India captain Rohit Sharma, who has missed this series with a finger injury, is the only man to have hit more T20I centuries than Yadav, who showed why he is number one on the ICC T20I batting rankings.
Rohit has four tons in the short format, with Yadav now one of four men with three by his name, along with Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, and Sabawoon Davizi, who has achieved the feat with the Czech Republic.
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