Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav have had quite a few middle-order partnerships in T20I cricket in recent times and most of those partnerships have been match-winning ones. For a long time in both formats of white ball cricket, India was a top-heavy team and they didn’t have a player at no. 4 or 5 who was as aggressive and as consistent as Suryakumar Yadav.
However, with SKY coming into the team now and Hardik Pandya complimenting him at no. 5, India is not a top-heavy team anymore and even if they lose early wickets at times, they manage to recover because of the arsenal they have in the middle order now.
Recently Virat Kohli was talking on Star Sports about his match-winning partnerships with SKY and he said SKY has naturally attacking instincts. Whenever he walks out to bat, it doesn’t take him more than a couple of deliveries to figure out what’s the nature of the pitch and what the bowlers are trying to do.
I start playing second fiddle to Suryakumar Yadav when he starts attacking: Virat Kohli
According to Kohli, once SKY figures out the conditions out there in the middle, he just keeps going for his shots. Virat also revealed that when Suryakumar Yadav starts going, he starts playing the second fiddle to him because that’s the conversation the two of them always have between themselves.
"During my and Suryakumar Yadav's partnership, he says that he will take his chance and just wants me to be there with him. So, I play a different role when I am out there with him, which I am enjoying because it works Beautifully well for the team." – Virat Kohli
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) October 23, 2022
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Kohli said that when he is batting with SKY, SKY himself tells him that he will attack from his end and he wants his partner to just stay there with him and doesn’t get out.
Recently in a series decider against Australia in India, Kohli got off to a flier in the powerplay, but when SKY walked out and started going at an even faster rate, Kohli took a back seat and SKY scored a match-winning 69 for India off just 36 balls. Kohli, thereafter, batted till the end and India won the match.
