Suryakumar Yadav has turned out to be one of the biggest stories in Indian cricket in recent times. The flamboyant batter’s emergence from being on the sidelines for ages is one of the most inspiring stories of a cricketer. Without losing heart he bided his time, put his head down and worked hard and when the opportunity presented itself, he grabbed it with open arms and did not look back. He toiled hard in domestic cricket and then made his mark in the IPL to break open door for a national selection.
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The cash-rich league played a big role in his career as before making his international debut he had already became a household name in the country.
The Mumbai-born made his IPL debut in 2012 for Mumbai Indians but it was the IPL 2014 season when Suryakumar Yadav made heads turn for the first time. He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 70 Lakh and he was given the role of a floater in Gautam Gambhir’s side who were in search of their second IPL title. Gambhir showed faith in his abilities as he played 16 matches for them and scored 164 runs at a strike rate of 140.17. The numbers might not make for an impressive reading, but he played a very crucial role in the lower-middle order to provide the finishing touches to KKR innings time and and again in that season. After a couple of impressive seasons, he was named Gambhir’s deputy in the star-studded side.
In 2017, KKR decided decided to revamp the squad next season with Gambhir being released from the side alongside Surya and other notable names.
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After that, the Mumbaikar worked hard on his batting skills to improve his shot-making in front of the wicket. He always had the skills to hit shots square of the wicket, but he found that missing piece in his batting repertoire
Speaking exclusively with News18 Cricketnext, former Mumbai batter and current Parsee Gymkhana coach Vinayak Mane talked about how Suryakumar started developing his game about six years ago as he worked on hitting straight to widen his range of shots.
“He always played well square of the wicket and behind the wicket. He always had that, ability to do that at will, since the days I’m watching him. But as time went by, he realized the importance of hitting the straight field as well. And I think the development has happened say six years back maybe. He started hitting straight field more in domestic cricket,” Mane said.
Mumbai Indians resigned Surya for INR 3.2 crore in IPL 2018 auction as the new and the most important chapter in Surya’s career started from there on. He smashed 512 runs on his comeback season at MI to become a regular starter in the star-studded squad.
He continued his scoring spree in the next two seasons as well clocking 424 and 480 runs in 2019 and 2020, played a pivotal role with the bat in their title triumphs. Despite his consistent show with the bat a national call-up continued to elude him – this despire the fact that the selectors were in desperate search of a solid number 4 in the Indian line-up.
It was a difficult time for him, as it would have been for anyone who was trying breakthrough selection doors.
However, his perseverance and a prolonged spell of consistent run meant he could not be overlooked anymore and he got his maiden call-up for the home series against England in 2021. He made an instant impact on the big stage with a hook shot against Jofra Archer for a maximum off the first ball he faced in international cricket. He went on to score 57 runs on his debut innings and was also named Player of the Match.
Sky soon became the limit for Surya and now he stands as the No.1 ranked T20I batter in the world. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2022, Surya played some incredible shots all around the ground to lit up the tournament. He scored 239 runs at a stunning strike rate of 189.68.
But, he has done in the hard work to this reach this level and it was all down to systemic planning and changing his dietary habits.
His exploits on the big stage put him in a comparison to legendary South Africa batter AB de Villiers who re-invented our perception of batting and shot-making with his ability manoeuvre the field and became a 360-degree player.
And it is no surprise that SKY is now being talked about in the same breath as ABD. Surya recently said there can only be one ‘Mr 360’, but de Villiers himself begged to differ and talked very highly of the Indian batter.
“I am very happy for Surya. I think he has come a very long way. I never saw this happening, the way he is playing. He was very conservative and stuck to his game plans at the start but he is now laying the platform and foundation and then starting to dominate the bowlers. It is fantastic to see that and he has a bright future ahead of him,” De Villiers told news agency PTI.
After making a statement in T20I cricket, Surya’s next target should be to guide India to ODI World Cup glory next year. The preparations for the mega tournament will start this month itself with three-match ODI series against New Zealand. With Surya, India have now a solid number 4 in the middle-order which gave solidity to the batting line-up.
The 32-year-old has played 13 ODIs for India so far in which he scored 340 runs at an average of 34. However, unlike T20Is where he has a role to attack the bowlers from word go, in ODIs, he will have to tweak his approach a bit. He has done that in domestic cricket so it won’t be any difficult for him to switch himself to a different zone.
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