Explained || Unbelievable Suryakumar Yadav: Secret behind his skylish 360 deg batting

Incredible, superb and You can’t believe that shot! These were the few words how Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar described Suryakumar Yadav’s 61 off just 25 balls in pan-stadium innings against Zimbabwe at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday evening. 

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Hardik Pandya have been adding runs on board, but Suryakumar Yadav owns the scoreboard and the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. What makes it more special is that Suryakumar Yadav is playing all these spectacular knocks on his maiden arrival in the country, which is regarded as challenging for sub-continent players. 

SKYlish batting

In his five innings, SKY has already amassed 225-runs at a staggering strike rate of 193.97, including three fifties. He has smashed eight sixes and 25 boundaries. The 32-year-old also became the first Indian, and only second of all, to went past 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year after Md. Rizwan achieved the feat in 2021. 

However, it’s not the number of runs Suryakumar Yadav Is scoring but the way he is doing it. The shots he plays are yet to be written in the cricket books; experts are scratching their heads and biting their nails to coin a term for such unique shots. Words like ‘incredible, spectacular, etc.’ are not enough to do justice to Suryakumar Yadav’s batting abilities. 

The testimony of SKY’s ability to quickly score runs is that he took just 550 balls to go past 1000 runs in 2022, while Pakistan batter Md. Rizwan, who opened the innings, took 983 balls to score 1326 runs in 2021. In 2022, Yadav has hit 1026 runs at an average of 44.60 and a strike rate of 186.54.

So, how is SKY doing what he is doing? 

The secret to his batting prowess is when he was all away from the limelight and used to dream of donning the Indian jersey. The years of experience in the Indian Premier League and a well-read calculative mind that prefers to read the dimensions of the stadium set him apart from his peers. 

In his latest interview with ESPN, SKY revealed that every time he comes to bat in the middle, he comes with a proper plan. “All these matches are high-stake game. You can’t go in without proper preparation and a plan. You have to plan your shots, what shots you will play against the spinners and the fast bowlers, and which area is shorter or longer. Which corner of the stadium one needs to target? So, a batter must plan and read these three to four things before taking the crease,” said Suryakumar Yadav.

The late, but lavish bloomer:

32-year-old made his T20 international debut last year against England in Ahmedabad and since then, middle-order batter has played 39-matches at an impressive average of 42.33, He has scored 1270-runs including one century and 12 fifties. Meanwhile, in ODIs, Suryakumar Yadav has played 13 matches, and scored 340 at an average of 34.oo.