Suryakumar Yadav's scintillating 26-ball 68 lifted a sedate India to 192 for two against Hong Kong, easily overshadowing Virat Kohli's fluent half-century in their Asia Cup match here on Wednesday.
On a two-paced wicket where the duo of Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul failed to convert their starts, Suryakumar showed how its done, with his wide range of shots at the Dubai International Stadium.
Batting on 42, Suryakumar smashed Haroon Arshad for four sixes from five balls in the final over, which yielded India 26 runs. He got to his fifty in just 22 balls.
Having shown his intent in a 34-ball 35 against Pakistan on Sunday, Kohli notched his first International half-century since his 52 against the West Indies in Kolkata on February 18, 2022.
From 94/2 in 13 overs, the duo of Kohli and Suryakumar stepped up in style with the latter exhibiting his 360-degree strokemaking skills.
The pair added 98 runs in an unbroken third-wicket partnership that came from just 42 balls. India stepped up in style in the final five overs, which got them 78 runs.
As for the famed Indian top-order, Rahul, who is coming back from an injury layoff, looked out of sorts, even against the inexperienced rivals and consumed 39 balls for his 36.
Of his two sixes, one came off a free-hit as the Indian vice-captain struggled to break free, allowing pressure to mount on his skipper who was the first to get out, mistiming a slower one from Ayush Shukla.
Rohit departed for a 13-ball 21 but not before becoming the first to get past 3500 runs in T20Is. Rohit also got past 12000 runs as an opener in international cricket, the second fastest after Sachin Tendulkar.
Under pressure to break free, Rahul eventually perished, sweeping a delivery outside off to get an edge behind the stumps.
That led to the arrival of Suryakumar into the crease, and the carnage orchestrated by the Mumbaikar himself, in the back 10.
Virat joins Rohit in elite list
The Indian top order batters had a good chance to get some runs under their belts against the associate nation side and, quite remarkably, Virat Kohli made the most of it as well. The former Indian skipper, who has not hit the top gear this year, scored a magnificent unbeaten fifty.
The right-handed batter came to the crease after Rohit Sharma's departure in the fifth over and remained unbeaten till the end. He faced a total of 44 deliveries and, with the help of one four and three sixes, scored an unbeaten 59 runs. It was due to his batting display and an unbeaten 98-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav (68 not out from 26 balls) that India managed to post a total of 192 runs for the loss of two wickets.
Virat's fifty against Hong Kong was his second T20I half-century in 2022 and, overall, his 31st in the shortest format of the game. With the fifty against Hong Kong, Virat has now joined his Indian teammate and captain Rohit Sharma in the elite list. Both the batters now have 31 fifty-plus scores in T20I matches, which is the highest by any batter.
Virat has scored 31 fifties, while Rohit has 27 half centuries and four triple-digit scores to his name. The pair is also among the top three highest run scorers in T20I cricket. Rohit leads the chart with 3520 runs in 134 matches, and Virat sits at the third position with 3402 runs to his name from 101 matches. In the last match against Pakistan, after playing his 100th T20I, Virat became the first Indian cricketer to play 100 matches in all three formats of the game.
