Suryakumar Yadav had different plans. Reverting to the "Maidan" instincts he honed in the gullies of Mumbai, the Indian captain orchestrated a masterly 84 off 49 balls*, dragging India to a winning total of 161/9 and securing a 29-run victory to open their T20 World Cup title defence.
While the fans were clamoring for the typical 200+ Wankhede score, Suryakumar and head coach Gautam Gambhir were playing a different game.
During the 14-over break, Gambhir issued a simple directive: Don't worry about the rate; just bat until the 20th over.
Surya admitted post-match that he never viewed the surface as a 190-run track. "I felt it was a 140 wicket," he noted, emphasizing that India’s final score of 161 was actually a bonus total.
Perhaps the most important part of the night was the final death-knell to Suryakumar’s "Year of Horrors." In 2025, the world's best T20 batter looked like a ghost, averaging a dismal 13.62 across 19 innings.
After a poor series in South Africa last year, Surya packed his kit bag and walked away from the game for two weeks.
Returning in 2026 with a "different feeling" in Nagpur, he has since struck three blistering half-centuries, proving that his mental reset was the missing piece of the puzzle.
I have played a lot of my cricket in Bombay... the maidans of Mumbai cricket. I know how to bat on similar kind of wickets. I just kept counting who was about to bowl and how many balls were left.
Suryakumar Yadav
