Suryakumar Yadav scored 48 off 24 runs at a strike rate of 200 in the Mumbai T20 League on Saturday (June 6), hours after getting sacked from the national team’s captaincy and dropped from the squad for the T20I series against Ireland and England. Captaining his team, Triumphs Knights MNE, he was batting in the first innings against SoBo Mumbai Falcons, the team that includes the new T20I skipper, Shreyas Iyer.
After losing the toss and getting asked to bat first, the Knights were forced onto the back foot immediately, enduring a sluggish Powerplay that yielded a mere 29 runs. Tight opening spells built immense early pressure and resulted in the cheap dismissals of both openers; Akhil Herwadkar (12) fell to Yash Dicholkar, while wicketkeeper
Shikhar Thakur (5) became Prathamesh Dake’s first victim of the day.
Staring down the barrel at 19-2, the innings were in desperate need of momentum. Captain Suryakumar Yadav delivered exactly that, walking to the crease and launching a trademark counter-attack.
Caveated by the difference in quality of the Mumbai Falcons bowlers against the IPL’s international-level stars, for those 23 balls, Suryakumar looked back to his pre-2025 best self. He smashed three boundaries and four sixes.
The right-hander timed the ball expertly all around the ground. He hit a straight drive so straight that it smacked the stumps on the non-striker’s end, he played majestic inside-out lofted drives, and most importantly, he used his wrists to hit those big, effortless flicks down and over the leg-side.
He looked set for a big one before spinner Yash Prakash Dicholkar clean-bowled him with an excellent ball. At the other end, Nutan Kumar Goel played the anchor role, accumulating 34 off 32 balls.
Triumphs Knights MNE score 147/8
Triumphs Knights MNE battled their way to a fighting total of 147-8 in 20 overs, navigating a rollercoaster innings defined by early struggles, a brilliant captain’s knock, and a late-order flurry.
Suryakumar’s wicket triggered a middle-order collapse orchestrated brilliantly by Prathamesh Dake, who finished as the pick of the bowlers with exceptional figures of 4 for 30. The bowling attack was perfectly backed up in the field by Harsh Aghav, who safely pouched four crucial catches to dismiss key batters.
A brief, explosive cameo from Minad Manjrekar, who smashed 15 off 9 balls with two sixes, in the dying overs ultimately dragged the Knights to 147, setting a competitive target at a run rate of 7.35.
