'I'm enjoying batting this way, I've been doing the same thing in the nets, all practice sessions and going out (to the middle), all these things happening, I'm very happy with that'
Suryakumar Yadav on Sunday became only the second Indian to hit two hundreds in a calendar year, continuing his rich vein of form in the shortest format of the game.
Skipper Rohit Sharma (4) is the only other Indian batter to score two T20I centuries in a calendar year in 2018.
With the feat Suryakumar also joins Rohit, opener KL Rahul (2) as the only other Indian to have two or more T20I hundred.
While Suryakumar's second T20 ton came against New Zealand, he had scored his maiden hundred in July against England.
"In T20 cricket, a hundred is always special," Suryakumar told the broadcasters after India's innings on Sunday.
"I'm enjoying batting this way, I've been doing the same thing in the nets, all practice sessions and going out (to the middle), all these things happening, I'm very happy with that."
Suryakumar reached the three-figure mark with back-to-back boundaries off Lockie Ferguson in the 19th over. He remained unbeaten on 111.
Since making his T20I debut in March last year, Suryakumar has been in scintillating form, collecting over 1300 runs at an average of 45.00 in 41 matches. His strike rate of 181.64 is the highest by any batter in the format.
He has cemented his place in the Indian middle-order and seems to be in the form of his life over the past year.
His phenomenal ability to play unconventional shots all around the ground has earned him the tag of 'Mr 360'. One such shot had come in the T20 World Cup Super 12 match against Zimbabwe.
Going down on one knee, Suryakumar had picked up a Richard Ngarava full toss from outside the off stump and scooped it on the right of fine leg for an unthinkable six.
He dazzled in his maiden T20 World Cup plundering 239 runs in six innings at a brilliant strike rate of a shade under 190 to end the tournament as the third highest-run getter. He scored fifties in crucial games against South Africa, Zimbabwe and Netherlands.
Suryakuamr finished the tournament with highest strike rate among the 144 batters who totalled 10 or more runs.
His recent exploits have catapulted, SKY, as he is known in the cricketing ecosystem, to the top of the batting chart in T20Is earlier this month.
In 2022 itself, he has collected 1151 runs in the format at a strike rate of 188.37, including two hundreds, nine fifties and 67 sixes.
