“Tula Maanla bhau” – Virat Kohli reacts to Suryakumar Yadav’s maiden IPL ton

Virat Kohli hailed Mumbai Indians (MI) Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed his maiden IPL century against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, May 12.

Kohli shares a great friendship with Suryakumar both on-and-off the field. The former RCB captain crossed IPL boundaries to post a heartwarming message for the Mumbai batter after he showcased tremendous form with the bat.

Kohli, who has been quite active on Instagram over the last few days, shared a picture of Suryakumar celebrating his ton and captioned the post:

“Tula Maanla bhau @surya_14kumar (Hat's off to you).”

Virat Kohli is a huge fan of SKY's 360-degree batting.

Suryakumar Yadav smashed an unbeaten 103 off 49 balls at a phenomenal strike rate of 210.20, including 11 boundaries and six sixes. The right-handed batter took GT bowlers to the cleaners during his power-packed show and helped MI post another 200+ total this season.

For the uninitiated, the 32-year-old struggled with the bat in the first few games. However, he hasn’t looked back after his half-century against the Punjab Kings (PBKS). He recently scored an unbeaten 83 off 35 balls as MI chased down 200 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore with 3.3 overs to spare.

Suryakumar Yadav has, so far, amassed 479 runs in 12 games at an incredible strike rate of 190.83, including a ton and four-half centuries. He will now look to guide MI to their sixth IPL trophy.

It’s worth mentioning that MI retained Yadav for ₹8 crore ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction. This came after the Mumbai batter scored 258 runs in 10 games last season.

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Suryakumar Yadav helps MI set a 219-run target for GT

A clinical batting performance from Suryakumar helped the Mumbai Indians set a daunting 219-run target for the defending champions Gujarat Titans earlier tonight. Besides Yadav’s heroics, skipper Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Vishnu Vinod chipped in with 29, 31, and 30 runs, respectively.

For GT, Rashid Khan emerged as the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 4/30. Mohit Sharma also bagged a solitary wicket.

Follow MI vs GT live score updates here.