Has Suryakumar Yadav aced the Rashid Khan challenge in IPL?
What's the story
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to kick off its 19th season on March 28. The opening match will be played between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Over the years, certain player battles have headlined games and their outcomes. One of them has been between Suryakumar Yadav and Rashid Khan, who will represent Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans, respectively, in IPL 2026. On this note, let's decode their numbers against each other.
Stats
Rashid has never dismissed SKY in IPL
The highest wicket-taker in T20 history, Rashid has made a significant mark in the IPL as well. However, Suryakumar, one of the finest T20 batters of the current generation, has aced this challenge. The Mumbai Indians dasher has been successful against Rashid, smashing him for 108 runs off 78 balls in the IPL, as per ESPNcricinfo. Notably, the Afghanistan star has not dismissed SKY even once across 13 IPL meetings.
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SKY's strike rate of 138.46 against Rashid is the second-best among batters with at least 90 IPL runs against the talismanic leg-spinner. The former is only behind Chennai Super Kings ace Ruturaj Gaikwad, who strikes at 163.63 versus Rashid. Both SKY and Gaikwad have scored 108 IPL runs against Rashid. Only two batters have more runs against the star bowler in the league - Sanju Samson (121) and Rishabh Pant (112).
SKY
SKY enjoyed a stellar run in IPL 2025
SKY ended IPL 2025 as the second-highest run-scorer with a whopping 717 runs in 16 matches at an average of 65.18 and a strike rate of 167.91. Though MI were knocked out of the season by Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2, SKY's brilliant run earned him the Player-of-the-Tournament award. Overall, SKY has scored 4,311 runs from 151 IPL innings at 35.04 (50s: 29, 100s: 2). The dasher has a strike-rate of 148.65, the highest among Indians with over 4,000 runs.
Rashid
Rashid owns these jaw-dropping numbers in IPL
Across 136 matches in the league, Rashid has claimed 158 wickets at an average of 23.83 (4W: 2). His economy rate of 7.08 is the third-best among bowlers with a century of IPL scalps. However, the 2025 edition marked his worst IPL outing both in terms of wickets and economy rate. He returned with just nine wickets in 15 wickets while conceding runs at 9.34. The leggie would be raring to script a comeback in the 2026 season.