One of his trademark abilities is to find the gaps and the boundaries from the get-go. But ever since he made his international debut, he has transcended the boundaries like it never existed. He is a package that could be hailed as the ‘X-factor’ with the bat, that could land India the ultimate title – the T20 World Cup.įor the longest time, the 32-year-old’s exploits were limited and restricted to just T20 cricket and in specific - the IPL. But even then, there is none to match his average of 42.14 in the country. In T20s since 2020, Suryakumar’s strike-rate against the tweakers is only bettered by one Indian batter: Sanju Samson. New Zealand, in 2016, applied the brakes against India with spin, and has been a repetitive pattern for so many years, but not anymore. One of India’s long-time struggles, with Virat Kohli in the middle-order was tackling spin. The audacity that he possesses is yet again rare. It was Jofra Archer, who is still perhaps one of the best bowlers across formats. Throwback to the first-ever delivery that he faced in T20I cricket: a 144kmph bumper was put away into the second-tier. Suryakumar is India’s best-ever T20 batter and his success almost lies in the fact that he isn’t afraid. He is perhaps one batter that the country has never seen, rather, he is one batter whose skillset is unrivalled in world cricket, at the moment.įorget all the recency bias, across India’s T20I history, no batter has an average of 35+ and a strike-rate of 170+ ever. It is even more fascinating that you don’t have to imagine that in India because Suryakumar exists. It is incredible to even imagine the thought of someone being so incredible. And neither of them have scored as many runs as the Indian batter (801 runs). If a strike-rate of 150 is the base then, there are only three players in world cricket: Matthew Wade, David Miller and Suryakumar. Now throw in a filter of ten innings, the numbers reduce to nine. Only 24 players have an average of over 40 in the calendar year (2022), without applying any filters. In fact, across all T20Is this calendar year, Suryakumar averages 40.05 and murders the bowlers with a strike-rate of 184.56. The Mumbaikar’s influence on the T20I side is such that his numbers are close to impossible for others to reach. If there is one thing that the right-hander has shown over the last few years in the Indian Premier League, it is his ability to thwart bowling units like they were club bowlers.Įven the best of pacers, Jasprit Bumrah, might attest to the abilities of the 32-year-old. Finding a batter like him is almost close to impossible, actually scratch that, it is impossible. Suryakumar’s abilities in T20 is elite and unparalleled. But amidst all of these departments, there is one unit – the middle-order – that is slowly leaving others gasping for their breaths. Look at any Indian team in the yesteryears, the focus has perennially been on the heavy-reliance on the top-order, the spin unit and now, the emerging pace unit that threatens to take the game away from the opposition. As the batter himself said ahead of India’s first practice game against Western Australia, “There’s a few butterflies and a lot of excitement.” He’s 32, a late bloomer but that kind of bloomer that has now become the face of India’s T20 plans.Ī complete 15 years after India’s first T20 World Cup title, here they go once again as one of the prime favourites. Suryakumar Yadav’s entry into international cricket is pretty late but like that dialogue from Rajinikanth’s movie, Baba, SKY “Late-a vanthalum latest-a vandhuirukaan” (I will be the latest, even if I come late). There is a SKY that is dreaming, one that is dreaming of dragons. Okay, might be a little confusing, now look at that statement from an Indian cricket team perspective. “If the sky could dream, it would dream of Dragons,” wrote Ilona Andrews in their book “Dragon Unleashed”.
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