During India's 2024 T20 World Cup match against Afghanistan on Thursday, batter Suryakumar Yadav shared a light-hearted exchange with Afghan captain Rashid Khan after hitting him for three boundaries.
In the eleventh over of the first innings, Rashid came on to bowl his third, having picked up the wickets of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant in his first two overs.
His first ball was pitched full and down leg stump. Yadav obliged by sweeping it past fine leg for four. The second one was outside off stump, and Yadav attempted the sweep once again, but missed this time. Stepping across his stumps on the third delivery, the batter lifted it square of the wicket, and all the way for six. Earlier, he had hit a boundary off a sweep against Rashid in the ninth over as well.
Rashid then dismissed Shivam Dube in the same over, trapping him lbw. After Dube was confirmed to be out by the third umpire, and began making his way back to the dressing room, broadcast cameras spotted Rashid and Yadav having an animated discussion at close quarters, laughing together. Commentator Ravi Shastri ventured the explanation that Rashid may have been asking the batter to "stop sweeping" him.
Yadav eventually made his way to 53 off 28 balls, employing the sweep to great effect against Afghanistan's wrist spinners, Rashid and Noor Ahmad. It was an entertaining knock from the Mumbai batter, who had come to the crease at 54-2 in 7 overs. A brisk 32 off 24 balls from Hardik Pandya towards the end meant India finished on 181-8 after electing to bat first.
Watch Suryakumar Yadav and Rashid Khan's joking exchange here
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