A journalist mistook Suryakumar Yadav as Mohammed Siraj during a presser.© Instagram
Star batter Suryakumar Yadav was a menace with the bat for India in their opening match of the T20 World Cup Super 8 stage against Afghanistan in Barbados. He made 53 from 28 balls with five fours and three sixes, helping India post a challenging 181-8 on a difficult batting track. Despite the 33-year-old currently the no. 1 T20I batter in the world, a journalist mistook him as Mohammed Siraj during the pre-match press conference. While the journalist mistakenly addressed Surya as Siraj, the India batter took it sportingly and came up with a hilarious reponse to leave the entrie press box in splits.
“Siraj toh nah hai… Siraj bhai khana khaa rahe hain, (Siraj is not here. He is having food),” Surya said with a big smile on his face.
The video was shared by ICC on their official social media handles.
After the match, India captain Rohit Sharma praised Suryakumar and Hardik Pandya for their crucial partnership and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for his top-class bowling spell.
“The last two years we have played T20s here, so we understand the conditions and planned accordingly. We adapted well and got 180, which was a great effort from the batters. We had class bowlers who defended it perfectly,” Rohit said after the match.
“Everyone came in and did their job, that is critical and we dwell on it. SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) and Hardik’s partnership was critical at that point, we needed someone to bat deep which they did. We know Bumrah’s class and what he can do. Important for us to use him smartly regardless of conditions. He is willing to take responsibility and he has been doing it for years.”
On using a three-spinner combination, Rohit said, “We have to assess conditions, opposition and based on that we are open to make changes if required. Felt three spinners were good here, if it is seamer-friendly next time, we will go with seamers.”
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