'I won't just sit out' - How Suryakumar Yadav overcame illness to help India T20I series decider

Suryakumar Yadav revealed he was carrying a sick bug from the morning into the T20I series decider against Australia in Hyderabad on Sunday (September 25) but overcame it to produce a match-winning knock for India. 

The Indian middle-order batter played a blistering innings of 69 off just 36 deliveries to help his team overhaul Australia's massive 186/7 in 20 overs. The knock was glint with some high-class strokeplay, with 5 fours and 5 sixes. 

Suryakumar Yadav shared a fantastic stand of 104 runs for the third wicket with Virat Kohli on the night, which allowed the Indian to resurrect their position in the match after being 30/2 inside the powerplay phase. 

At no stage, however, it looked as if the batter was feeling ill from inside. The batter had the option of missing out on the game but he conveyed to the team doctor and the physio to get him ready for the match somehow. The idea was to prepare for the scenario in case he isn't feeling 100% on the night of the T20 World Cup final at MCG.

Suryakumar Yadav overcomes illness to help India win 

"I won't just sit out saying it's an illness. So do whatever, give me whatever pills or injection you want, but just get me ready for the game in the evening. Once you go into the match and wear that India jersey, the emotions are totally different," ESPNcricinfo quoted Suryakumar Yadav. 

Through his fantastic knock in the third and final T20I in Hyderabad, Suryakumar also became the highest run-scorer for men's T20Is in 2022, surpassing Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan with 682 runs from 20 innings at an average of 37.88 and strike-rate of 182.84. 

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The batter also fell only nine runs short of recording the most runs by an Indian male in T20Is in a calendar year, falling shy of Shikhar Dhawan's record in the year 2016. He will have the chance to eclipse the left-hander when India play the T20I series opener against South Africa in Kerala on Wednesday (September 28). 

"I practice the same way as I want to bat in the match," said the 32-year-old, opening up on his success mantra. "I believe in just one thing: go and express yourself. If my success rate is above 75%, why not? I just think when I walk out, if I'm batting well, then I try to carry that phase on and try and finish off games."