Suryakumar soars to sky: India find missing piece
Moments after India completed a stunning 10-over chase of 154 at Guwahati, New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell ran to Suryakumar Yadav and playfully inspected his bat. Suryakumar had blasted a 26-ball 57, his second fifty in as many matches after a 37-ball 82 at Raipur. Perhaps, Mitchell was just checking out the make and meat of Suryakumar’s bat or it was an open admiration of a player who can do some astounding deeds with the bat.
When in flow, Suryakumar can have that effect on fans and opponents alike, evoking awe and appreciation in equal measure. But the team management will be experiencing a different, more practical emotion - relief. The skipper finding his touch is the brightest portend ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup. But till January 23, the situation was different. Suryakumar had gone without a fifty in 23 innings, dating back to October 12, 2024 and he had only one 40-plus and 30-plus scores each in this phase.
In that there was another worrying trend as the Mumbai man was dismissed by pacers 15 times within the first 10 balls. But in the second T20I at Raipur, the early dismissals of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson came as a blessing in disguise. Once the openers returned to the hut in 1.1 overs, Suryakumar needed to consolidate the innings, giving him a little time to gather his breath and thoughts. There was no real pressure on him to maintain the tempo set by openers or one down batters, scoring at a high strike-rate from the onset. He started off the block slowly, making 10 off 10 balls and that’s not usual for him to score at a strike-rate of 100.
But once he sussed up the pace of the pitch and the bowlers, Suryakumar slipped into his familiar self, motoring to 72 in the next 27 balls. Pacers, his nemesis till that point, were taken apart. Zak Foulkes leaked 41 runs off 12 balls, while more experienced Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy were negated with 14 off six and 16 off 11 balls. The dismantling of Foulkes was spectacular — sixes behind fine leg and over long-on, four boundaries through point and deep third man regions and two in the ‘V’ in front. It was the return of the OG 360 batter. Legendary Sunil Gavaskar acknowledged the significance of that innings at Raipur.
“The knock gave him exactly the confidence he needed. He hasn’t been short of form; he’s been short of runs. He has been batting very well in the nets. He’s not struggling there, he’s hitting the ball cleanly and all around the ground. “It just wasn’t working for him in matches. Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of luck to get going. This time, he didn’t even need luck. That innings was exactly what he needed. His confidence is back,” Gavaskar told the host broadcaster. It was evident in the way he batted in the third match at the Baraspara Stadium on Sunday.
This time Suryakumar walked in at a different situation. India were 53 for two in just 3.2 overs in pursuit of a middling 154. With just over 100 needed in 17 overs, Suryakumar had enough time in his hands to settle in, and took 8 balls to score 8 runs, also leaving the marauding Abhishek Sharma to do his job. Suryakumar never tried to outpace his younger partner, who was on a merry ride scoring at an eye-popping strike-rate of 345.
But the 35-year old picked his bowlers cleverly, this time spinners. Glenn Phillips was mowed for 15 runs off five balls, Ish Sodhi 14 off 8 and Mitchell Santner 18 off 8, mostly through sweep shot and the slog version of it. It was a clear indication that Suryakumar has found his groove, and now at No. 4 India has an insurance cover for the odd failure Abhishek and Ishan Kishan are going to have at the top. Former India opener Aakash Chopra echoed the view.
“He seemed to have realised that he needs to spend some time (in the middle). You have to accept that you need runs. Therefore a lot of strokes (to be played) along the ground, and not taking too many chances. “More importantly, he never allowed his ego to come in when Ishan Kishan was going hammer and tongs at one end. These are important things as you are not thinking only about this bilateral series, as this is a preparation for the World Cup,” he said during a chat show.
