Surya: The Next Mr.360 in the Making?

                                                          image credit: AFP

It was just a usual day for Suryakumar Yadav in the office on Sunday against Zimbabwe where he pounced on a hapless African-nation attack and displayed all sorts of poetry that he has written in his book over the years.

Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine was a bit amused and confused at the same time seeing the batting trajectory of Suryakumar as it was the first live interaction for him against this striking professional who knew how to play with the field and that’s what made Ervine furious too with, he indulging in conference with bowlers every other ball Surya faced.

In the 20^th over of the innings which was bowled by tall left-handed paceman Richard Ngarava, Ervine jammed the off-side field indicating the wide yorker is the only tool left that can trigger Yadav’s high-profile strike rate. However, contrary to the bowler and skipper’s tactics, Surya found it as another way of heaping the run bonanza which he is continuously doing for the past one year (and not just one year, since marking his arrival to international cricket by dispatching a Jofra Archer’s delivery over the fine leg on the very first ball of his international career.)

Surya knew Ngarava would target wide yorkers which can offer him substantial time for dancing down to the leg side and sweeping it over fine leg and that’s what he did, backing his instincts, stretching his leg wide, making widish balls as low full toss, and earning a reward in the form of 6 runs. That’s what he is famous for doing so.

In his 25-ball knock of an unbeaten 61, he showed why he is that highly rated. He upends the sedate first 15 overs by accounting for 79 runs in the last 5 overs with he knocking as much as 56 runs in the last 19 balls, stating the caliber of a 32-year-old No.4 batter.

As the sensation around Surya increased about him being compared with the former South African great AB De Villiers, who earned the token of being the only “Mr.360” cricketer around the globe, he gently replied contrary to his on-field exploits, “There is only one 360-degree player in the world, and I will try to play like him.” It received many plaudits from fans and former cricketing legends.

But has Suryakumar Yadav came that long way to be called as the finest 360-degree player to notch up the cricketing field or does the all-format superiority of Proteas legend make him inevitable in this diaspora?

Well, there is no abrupt response to this case as Surya has just started to strengthen his roots in international cricket though having an undisputable record at the domestic structure and on the other hand, De Villiers started the unorthodox-still-classy built-up even when ODI cricket was at its peak of 6 runs per over melodrama.

Whenever Surya has taken a stride in Indian set-up, it has left the Indian as well as global audience and spectators in awe of his masterclass and the way he middles bat even after jolting to his own shocks. The other thing which Surya does well than any other batter is constantly hitting the 170+ strike rate without blind slogging the ball.

In the shortest format of the game, the pace is the king and he has done well till the building up of this idea as a no.4 batter, it becomes innocuously necessary to maintain the momentum to keep the run-rate in check. While the fact is India’s top 3 in Rohit, Rahul, and Virat ask for their space to settle in the middle, and when there is someone like Yadav, who can keep hitting the stocks from ball 1, the cover-up process happens automatically.

Surya has all the arrows in his bag and an ever-ready plan to conquer all the tactical strikes by the opposition team. It is evidenced by the show against South Africa in this T20 World Cup when the Indian top order simply succumbed to the potent African pace attack led by Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, and Wayne Parnell. In the most challenging conditions that any batter can adhere to, it was the wait of one of the best T20I knocks by any batter in the world.

Holding the bounce and pace with shivering cold made it more vulnerable to bat on but he played the lone fighter-like innings of 68 in 40 deliveries that had every shot inculcated in it. From pickup shots, and late cuts to Maharaj, dancing down the crease to smash it over the bowler, going over fine leg, sweep, and everything a batter becomes complete off.

He has already achieved the milestone that AB couldn’t in the shortest format, of having 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year. However, it was his (AB’s) legacy in Test and ODI that is keeping Surya in the shadow of the African legend but the skill is not restraint to any format, it demands an extra effort, that extra push, and with a big future to follow in, there is no stopping Surya Kumar Yadav.