And the top-order T20I batsman indeed proved true to his words playing a match-winning knock on a challenging Barbados surface, where other batsmen struggled to score runs, in the T20 World Cup Super 8s clash against Afghanistan on Thursday.
Suryakumar played a stormy innings of 53 runs in just 28 balls and led India to a 47-run victory. His explosive batting included five fours and three sixes, which earned him this award. Player of the Match awards,
Most POTM awards in T20Is
- 15 Suryakumar Yadav (64 runs)
- 15
Virat Kohli (120) - 14 Virandeep Singh (78)
- 14
Sikandar Raza (86) - 14 Mohammad Nabi (126)
By winning this prestigious award, Surya achieved a significant milestone and equalled Virat Kohli's record for most Player of the Match awards in T20 Internationals. Both players now have an impressive number of 15 such honours each.
However, Surya got his 15th Player of the Match award in his 64th match, while Kohli took 120 matches to earn the same number of awards.
Only a few behind Surya are: Malaysia's Virandeep Singh, Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza and Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi. Each of these players has won the Player of the Match award 14 times in their respective T20I careers.
Talking about the match, batting first in the Group 1 match, India scored a strong score of 181/8.
When they returned to defend the total, the fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah (3-7) rocked Afghanistan with his double-strike in the powerplay overs.
Companion Seamer Arshdeep Singh He also took three wickets, as Afghanistan were all out for 134 in 20 overs.