SKY’s 84* vs USA one of the best against-the-odds knock in T20 WC history

A knock for the ages — Suryakumar Yadav’s 84 vs USA rewrites the script of great against-the-odds T20 World Cup innings.

The shorter the length of the game, the closer teams’ skills come against each other. USA were the third team to threaten an upset on the opening day of the T20 World Cup 2026, along with Netherlands and Scotland. At the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, they restricted India’s feared batting line-up to 46/4 inside the powerplay and later to 77/6. But they looked clueless against India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav.

Any bilateral series before an ICC event of the same format is quite important, especially for those who have underperformed. Suryakumar would agree more than anyone else now. In 2025, he looked a pale shadow of himself with only 218 runs in 19 T20I innings at 13.62. For the entire year, he didn’t celebrate a single half-century in the shortest format.

But with the start of 2026, Suryakumar regained his form. His 242 runs in five innings against New Zealand at 80.67 and a strike rate of 196.75 were only the byproduct of the confidence he gained. But on a vital evening when the team was under pressure, he channeled it into a jaw-dropping knock.

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Suryakumar Yadav’s 84* rescues India from embarrassement
With extra grass and moisture to last the square for the four-week tournament, the pitch had a bit of grip in it. Moreover, there was an electrifying energy in the USA side’s fielding along with their clinical planning. After the wicket of Tilak Varma to a short ball, Shivam Dube was foxed for a golden duck by a slower delivery.

Seconds after USA opted to bowl first, there was talk of the Blue Brigade breaching the 300-run mark. But there was a reason behind it; India had crossed 250 three times since the last T20 World Cup. But once they lost four wickets inside the powerplay, the pressure came firing at their captain, standing on one run in two balls.

That was a crucial time where Sky had to fight his own instincts more than he did against the bowlers. He smashed Shubham Ranjane for two boundaries in three balls during the 10th over of the innings. On the last ball of the over, the Pune-born dropped the India captain in what could have been a fine catch in the follow-through.

For the next five overs, Suryakumar added only 21 runs in 14 balls with a few boundaries. But his beast mode got activated in the last five overs. He notched up 21 runs against Saurabh Netravalkar in the 16th over before completing his fifty in 36 balls.

Out of all the shots he played in the evening, the one that caught the eye came on the fourth delivery of the 19th over. The local boy went down on his knee and swept Shadley van Schalkwyk over the deep square leg for a massive six. Not only the crowd, but even the USA players appreciated that strike from the 35-year-old.

Netravalkar, despite conceding 44 runs without any success in three overs, had to stand on his mark for the last over as two of USA’s bowlers were injured in the course of the game. Suryakumar was ready to take on another Mumbai-born pacer. He squeezed the first ball through the gap between backward point and point for a fine boundary. The next two balls were deposited into the stands.

All of a sudden, India, despite struggling to get 140 on the board, finished with 161. The India skipper scored an unbeaten 84 runs in 49 balls at a strike rate of 171.43, thanks to 10 boundaries and four sixes. The second-best scorer for India was Tilak Varma with 25. This reflected how phenomenal Suryakumar was on a tricky surface.

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Suryakumar Yadav’s 84* sits among several top T20 World Cup knocks
For any side, it is important to make a winning start in an ICC event, and India were under serious pressure at 77/6 in 12.4 overs. For any full-member nation, the pressure mounts on them while facing an Associate Nation, and that was the exact case with India.

Suryakumar’s 84* became the second most runs in an innings as India captain in T20 history. It remains one of the best knocks under pressure. The weight of the clash was massive, irrespective of the opposition.

The one such against-the-odds knock will always be Virat Kohli’s 82* in 53 balls against Pakistan during the T20 World Cup 2022. That knock at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) came when the Blue Brigade were 31/4 in the seventh over during a 160-run chase.

Another such knock was again from the Delhi-born during the T20 World Cup 2016 against Australia when he scored a stunning 82*. That knock carried the 2007 champions into the semifinals. The current India head coach, Gautam Gambhir, played one of those clutch knocks of 75 against Pakistan in the inaugural World Cup final. The next best score of the innings was 30* from Rohit Sharma.

Five to seven years from now, Sky’s knock would be filtered out as one of his T20 innings against the minnows. But all of India would know how he countered a possible upset. USA, despite losing three wickets in the power play, finished with 132 in their 20 overs. The victory margin for India was 29 runs, three less than what Sky got in his last 10 balls.

It has been a superb start for the India captain with the bat, and he used the momentum in the field. And it will now be up to the rest of the batting department to work on the mistakes to continue being called the clear favorites of the World Cup. Their next encounter will be on February 12 against Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

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