Social media went into overdrive after attacking Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) joined ex-captain Rohit Sharma as the only other player from the franchise to score at least two centuries in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Suryakumar Yadav's feat came against the Pat Cummins-led SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

After Hardik Pandya won the toss and asked SRH to bat first, the visitors could only manage 173/8 in their allocated 20 overs, thanks to the Mumbai Indians skipper and Piyush Chawla's three-wicket hauls.

In response, Mumbai Indians lost three early wickets. They looked in all sorts of trouble at 3/31 in the fifth over when Suryakumar Yadav arrived at the crease. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Suryakumar Yadav decided to launch an all-out counter-attack against the SRH bowlers before unleashing his full repertoire of strokes on the ground.

As Suryakumar Yadav opened his shoulders, the SRH bowlers found themselves being hit for sixes and boundaries in almost every over as the 33-year-old explosive batter cruised through to his second IPL hundred in 51 balls.

In the end, Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten on 102 off 51 deliveries to take Mumbai Indians home for the fourth time in what has been a disastrous season for the former five-time champions in the IPL.

Suryakumar Yadav's whirlwind knock meant that Mumbai Indians jumped to ninth on the table, moving 2022 champions Gujarat Titans to the bottom of the charts.

With his sensational ton against SRH, the current Mr. 360 of T20 cricket became a part of an elite group of cricketers, who have made two three-figure scores for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Besides him, Rohit Sharma remains the only other Mumbai Indians batter to hit twin hundreds in the IPL.

Apart from the duo, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Lendl Simmons, and Cameron Green have struck tons for the Mumbai-based franchise.

Impressed by Suryakumar Yadav's imperious form, the legendary Brian Lara urged the Indian cricket team's management to promote him to the No.3 position during the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the US.

At present, the talismanic Virat Kohli is the designated No.3 batter for India in T20Is. But the Delhi-born cricketer is expected to open the innings with Team India skipper Rohit Sharma this time around. Thus, allowing Suryakumar Yadav to bat at the No.3 position in the batting order.

“My one advice, and I don't know if you're going to like it or not, but Sky has to bat at three. He just has to bat at three. He is one of the greatest T20 players in the game. And you speak to players like Sir Viv (Vivian Richards), and he will tell you he used to want to get out there in the middle,” Brian Lara told news agency PTI.

“And I feel that that's the same thing with SKY. So, get in on it as quickly as possible. He is not an opener, get him out there and if he can bat for 10–15 overs, you know what is going to happen,” the West Indies great added.

“He is going to put you in an unassailable position if you bat him first, or he's going to win the game if he is batting second. And then let everybody sort of position themselves outside of that, but a good structure is important. Just find a way to make Suryakumar Yadav bat at No. 3,” Brian Lara opined.

On the other hand, former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu compared Suryakumar Yadav with 2011 World Cup winner Sachin Tendulkar.

“Suryakumar is simply sensational. When he gets going there is no way to stop him. I have seen Sachin dominating bowlers. Virat, and Rohit are doing it for years. For me, Surya is in the league of these three. He is dominating bowlers like them,” Navjot Singh Sidhu said in a conversation with Star Sports.

“The game changed the moment he started playing his strokes. He didn’t time the ball in one over of Pat Cummins but kept his wicket intact and then got the desire result,” he elaborated.

Former Team India spinner Harbhajan Singh too was in awe of Suryakumar Yadav.

“I bow down to SKY’s class. He is single-handedly winning matches for Mumbai Indians. It is not that others are not doing well, but SKY is head and shoulders above the rest. He is simply unstoppable. I must admit that there is no bigger name than Suryakumar Yadav in Mumbai Indians now. SKY is winning hearts with his batting, and like earlier it used to be ‘Sachin, Sachin', now ‘Surya' ‘Surya' chants reverberate the whole ground,” Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.