Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Ashok Yadav, (born 14 September 1990) also known by the initialism SKY, is an Indian international cricketer who is the current T20I captain of Indian cricket team.

He plays as a right-handed middle-order batter and is an occasional right-arm off break bowler. He represents the Indian cricket team and plays for Mumbai in domestic first-class cricket. Suryakumar was an integral member of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup. He plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Yadav started playing club cricket in Mumbai before he was selected for the Mumbai cricket team. He made his List A debut for Mumbai in February 2010 before making his first class and T20 debut in the same year. In March 2021, he made his T20I debut for India and later made his ODI debut in July. Yadav has mainly played limited-overs cricket for India and played his lone Test match in February 2023. As of December 2023, he has scored 2,141 runs in 60 T20Is matches at an average of over 45. He has captained Mumbai in domestic cricket and also served as the Indian captain for seven T20Is in 2023.

Early and personal life
Yadav was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 14 September 1990. His parents were from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Yadav did his schooling at Atomic Energy Central School in Mumbai and graduated with a B.Com from Pillai College in Mumbai. He started playing cricket under the guidance of his paternal uncle Vinod Kumar Yadav in Varanasi. At the age of 10, he was enrolled in a cricket camp at BARC colony in Mumbai, coached by Ashok Kamat. He then went to Elf Vengsarkar Academy, run by former international cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar and played age-group cricket in Mumbai.

On 7 July 2016, Yadav married Devisha Shetty, whom he first met in 2010 at a college program. Shetty is a trained dancer and a dance coach.

Early career
Yadav played club cricket in Mumbai, mostly for Parsi Gymkhana Cricket Club, along with teams including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited team, Shivaji Park Gymkhana Club and Dadar Union Club. Yadav made his debut for Mumbai against Gujarat in a List A match February 2010. He made his T20 debut against Hyderabad next month and first class debut later against Delhi in December 2010.

International career
In February 2021, Yadav was named in the Indian Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their home series against England. He made his T20I debut for India on 14 March 2021 in the second match of the series at Ahmedabad but did not bat. On 18 March, he played his first innings in the fourth game of the series and hit the first ball he faced in international cricket for a six, becoming the first Indian to do so in T20Is. He went on to score a half-century in the match and was praised by then Indian captain Virat Kohli for the performance. Subsequently, he was named in India's ODI squad for their series against England. In June 2021, he was named in India's limited overs squads for their series against Sri Lanka. He made his ODI debut on 18 July 2021 in the first match of the series at Colombo. On 20 July 2021, Yadav scored his maiden ODI fifty against Sri Lanka.

In July 2021, Yadav was called up as a replacement to India's test squad for their away series against England, but did not play a match. In September 2021, he was named in India's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. He scored 31 runs across two innings three matches in the world cup. In November, he was named in the Indian test squad for their home series against New Zealand, but did not get a game. He played three T20Is against New Zealand, scoring 63 runs across three innings including a half-century and a duck. In February 2022, Yadav was part of both the limited overs squads for the home series against West Indies and made his come-back into the ODI team in the series.

In June 2022, he was named in India's squad for their T20I series against Ireland and the subsequent away series against England. In July 2022, Yadav scored his maiden T20I century against England at Trent Bridge, scoring 117 off 55 balls and becoming only the fifth Indian player to score a century in T20I and only the second to reach the mark batting fourth or lower. In August 2022, he played in the 2022 Asia Cup T20I competition and scored 139 runs across five innings. Later, he played in the T20I home series against Australia and South Africa. In October 2022, he became the fastest to score 1000 runs in T20Is in terms of balls faced, reaching the mark in 573 balls in the series against South Africa. On 30 October 2022, Suryakumar was ranked first in the ICC men's player rankings for T20I batsmen.

In October 2022, Yadav played in the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia where he was the third highest run-getter with 239 runs across six innings. On 27 October 2022, he scored the fourth fastest half-century by an Indian batsman at a T20 World Cup, reaching the mark in 25 balls against Netherlands at Sydney. In November 2022, Yadav scored his second T20I century against New Zealand at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui scoring 111* off 51 balls including 11 fours and 7 sixes and became the second Indian to score two centuries in T20Is in a calendar year after Rohit Sharma. Yadav won the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award for his performance in 2022. In January 2023, he scored the second fastest century by an Indian batter in T20Is and the third of his career, reaching the mark in 45 balls against Sri Lanka at Rajkot. He played in both ODIs and T20Is in the home series against New Zealand in January-February 2023, scoring 142 runs across five innings.

On 9 February 2023, he made his test debut against Australia at Nagpur, which has been his only test match as of January 2024. In the subsequent ODI series, when he got out on the first ball he faced in the third match at Chennai, he registered his third consecutive golden duck, being the only Indian to do so. In August 2023, Yadav was appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian team for the T20I away series against West Indies. He scored 166 runs across four innings including 83 runs off 44 balls in the third match. He was part the Indian squad that won the 2023 Asia Cup but played a lone game in the loss against Bangladesh. Later, he was named in the Indian squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. He scored just 106 runs across seven innings in the world cup, where India finished as runners-up. After the World Cup, Yadav was named as the captain of the Indian team for the T20I series against Australia. He scored 144 runs in five innings and led the team to a 4-1 series victory. He was named as captain for the subsequent tour of South Africa. In the series, he scored the fourth T20I century of his career, equalling Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell for the record of most centuries in T20Is.

In May 2024, he was named in India’s squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. In a Super 8 match against Afghanistan, he became the first Indian batter to be named Player of the Match in the tournament. During the final against South Africa, Yadav caught David Miller out on the boundary off a low full toss during the final over, helping to solidify India's 7-run victory in the match. Match commentator Ian Smith referred to the catch as being "one of the greatest" in the history of the game, not just for the difficulty of the catch, but also given the occasion of the last over of a World Cup final.

Mumbai
Yadav represented Mumbai in domestic cricket. He captained the team for a brief period during the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy season and was again appointed as captain for 2019-20 season. He also captained the team in the 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament. In October 2019, he was named in the India C squad for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy. He continued to play club cricket for Parsi Gymkhana club and scored 249 runs in final against Payyade Sports Club in 'Police Shield' tournament in 2021, winning the "Best Batsman of the Final" award and helping Parsi Gymkhana to win the tournament for the first time since 1956.

Indian Premier League
Yadav was part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) team for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2012 season where he played just one match and was dismissed without scoring. In the 2014 IPL auction, he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He won the title with KKR in the first season in the 2014. He scored 608 runs in 54 matches across four seasons for KKR.

In 2018 IPL auctions, he was bought by Mumbai Indians for a price of inr 32000000. He was prolific for Mumbai, scoring more than 1400 runs in three seasons and winning the title in 2019 and 2020 seasons. He was retained by Mumbai ahead of the 2022 auction for inr 80000000. However, he was ruled out of the initial part of 2022 season due to injury and scored 303 runs in eight matches at an average of more than 43 on his return. In the 2023 season, he was appointed as the vice-captain of the side. In the 2023 season, he had a prolific season with the bat scoring 605 runs in 16 matches including his maiden IPL century against Gujarat Titans on 12 May 2023.

Playing style
Yadav is a hard hitting lower middle-order batter. He has a tendency to go all-out from the first ball, rather than take time to settle at the crease. He plays a wide range of shots and all around the ground on both off and leg sides. He is often called Mr. 360 for his range of shots including scoops over fine leg.