Suryakumar Yadav’s Back to the Scoring Business and He Mustn’t Falter Now
Suryakumar Yadav scored 83 off 44 balls vs WI [AP Photo]
A day before, Suryakumar Yadav played a sort of an inning that is likely to be talked about for quite some time even in the future instead of it being just a trending item for the next few days.
It was a knock that not only culminated ultimately in a milestone (an important fifty); it was a match-winning inning that ultimately kept India’s hopes alive in a series where they’ve hitherto played quite mediocre cricket.
The importance of the fiery 83
Perhaps the kind of nearly perfect knock that had an element of patience as also the explosive material that typically fans queue up to see in this modern age of fast paced cricket.
Purely from a statistical perspective, Suryakumar Yadav’s 44-ball-83 was a captivating blunder. Though in truth, it was a loud and clear message. A message to a growing clout of detractors who are, on any given day, quick to shove real talents under the carpet just as they are audaciously quick to rally behind exciting names in the game.
With Big names around, the big runs belonged to Sky
But on the whole, in a contest that featured quite some big names especially given the shortest format of the sport- think Mayers, Pooran, Hetmyer, Gill, Samson and Pandya- it was a batsman who’s not really been in much of a great nick that made all the difference.
From facing the undesirable ire of being 2-nil down in the series to achieving a face saving status of going 2-1, Suryakumar Yadav’s effort was timely and brilliant in equal measure.
But that’s not all.
The mere ease and utter intoxicating style with which he belted- not collected- his runs actually made some sit back and argue as to whether the two games the West Indies won had more to do with their own brilliance or the fact that Sky and his India played rather shoddily.
To many, Suryakumar Yadav is a 360-degree player given his magnetic ability to hit all around the ground and in different corners that most conventional batters otherwise forgo; focusing hence on the usual cover and mid wicket regions.
But what also must strike the minds of those besotted with a truly one-of-a-kind hitter in cricket’s most entertaining format is that Suryakumar Yadav has to work on the very element of the game that has made the greats of the format what they truly are; whether Kohli, Gayle or Rohit.
The King feature
It’s consistency.
For someone whose batting silently echoes the mantra that you live by the sword and you perish by it, Suryakumar is as entertaining a batsman as he is a risk taker in his approach to the craft.
He’s a big hitter. And yet, at the same time, someone who’ll score big and easily.
He’ll perish to the same shot that until a few balls or at best, fetched him half a dozen.
Someone who doesn’t particularly mind exploring the big vacant gap on the on side immediately upon arriving inside the first batting power play. And he’ll do that exercising little restraint.
A few innings back, he immediately played a ramp shot that fetched him half a dozen runs at the back of a single delivery and then got out in the next few minutes.
On more occasions than few, it seems that a big damaging exposition of the fine art of batting is on its way the moment Suryakumar Yadav flexes his muscles.
And yet, there are times where he’ll get out mistiming or lamely attempting a stroke to offer catching practice to a fielder placed at an unconventional spot in a T20I such as a leg slip or the gully region.
Yet, what’s important is that Surya doesn’t get cornered. He’ll chide you all the time but without the sputtering of the mouth; the bat showing the way as it did in the most important game of this series so far in the Caribbean.
But what mustn’t be ignored is that Surya must continue his show stopping exhibition that only recently seems to have begun.
Not only because there’s the fate of the series hanging in close balance; but also because the more runs gathered especially in tricky situations, the better it is for the hugest assignment that lies ahead for Sky and his Indian teammates: the fast approaching World Cup.
 "Dev Tyagi")
