T20 World Cup 2022: “If I get out, I don’t go in to bat again that day”

You are often forced to wonder: ‘How does he make batting look so easy?’ There’s a certain assurance that Suryakumar Yadav disseminates, when he’s at the crease. He is like that person who has to get off a crowded metro. He will pierce the field, no matter how packed it may be.

No wonder that Netherlands captain Scott Edwards, in the pre-match press conference, labelled Surya as the biggest threat. And after the 32-year-old blasted a match-winning 51* off 25 balls, pacer Paul van Meekeren admitted he was the most scared bowling to SKY.

Not because he will tonk you deep into the stands, but since he will maneuver to dispatch even your good balls to the fence. He did exactly that at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday. He hit seven of his 24 deliveries for boundaries, before flicking the final one over square leg to bring up his 10th T20I fifty.

And while everyone touts him as the next ‘Mr. 360’, as someone who thinks out of the box, the punchline of Suryakumar Yadav’s post-match press conference was: ‘I just keep it simple’. And sometimes, having a clarity of mind is the biggest key to success, and more clarity. Notably, if you have attended any of Team India’s nets sessions, you would have realised that Surya doesn’t practice most of the shots he brings out in a match.

But how does he do it? It’s definitely got to do with his presence of mind, which comes with clarity and ensuing calmness. But just how Sachin Tendulkar played a match everyday for 55 consecutive days as a 14-year-old, or how once-captain Sourav Ganguly played local matches away from the limelight to stage his India comeback, there’s a method to everyone’s madness.

The pressure that he puts on the opposition is a result of the pressure that Suryakumar Yadav deliberately puts on himself when he trains back in Mumbai.

“What I have done during my practice sessions back home, when I go back to Mumbai and practice, I try and put a lot of pressure on myself. Whenever I am going for a few practice sessions or playing a match scenario, I try and put a lot of pressure on myself. For example, I target a few balls and I have to get ‘n’ number of runs. If I get out, I just come out; that day I don’t go in to bat again.

"So the same thing has been reflecting when I go into a game. My plans have been very clear – what shots I have in my kitty, I just go out and express those. I won’t do anything out of the box. So it has been helping me, and hopefully I’ll try and do the same things in the coming games,” he told reporters after India thrashed the Dutch by 56 runs.

In T20 cricket, people talk so much about match-ups, entry points, situational awareness, etc. SKY reiterated how simplicity in thinking can solve most problems.

“The situation in which I go into bat, either there are less runs on the board after 8 or 10 overs, at the loss of two wickets, or there are enough runs with two wickets down. So my role is absolutely simple at that time. If the runs are more, I have to maintain the tempo; if the runs are less, I have to up the tempo. And I go play my percentage shots only, and not try to do something different. If you look at my last 5-10 innings, I have looked to do just that. The day it comes off, it goes really well. And if it doesn’t, I just keep banking on my game,” he explained.

India definitely weren’t seated in business class when skipper Rohit Sharma (53 off 39) got out. The Men in Blue were 84 for 2 at the end of 12 overs. Thereon, Suryakumar Yadav did what is best known to him. He looked to up the ante. A third-wicket partnership worth 95 runs off 48 balls powered India to a comfortable 179 for 2.

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What SKY has also done is enabled the top-order to first see themselves in before employing the long handle. Unlike in the past, when Rohit in particular was giving the bowlers a charge from the onset, he first looked to get his eye in tonight. When asked about the apparent change in approach, Surya didn’t divulge much.

“Everyone has different plans when they go into bat. It’s equally important what their gameplan is. So they are doing the same thing – trying to get their eye in and just enjoying themselves. And I am loving the way they are batting,” he said in response to a Sportskeeda query.

While his debut happened much later than many people expected, Team India have been a more vaunted outfit ever since. After 36 T20Is, Surya averages a remarkable 39.67. But it’s his strike rate of 177.47 that is the icing on the cake.

“When I was a little confused, he was just coming upto me” – Suryakumar Yadav

Virat Kohli (L) and Suryakuma Yadav (R) walk off to a rousing reception from the SCG crowd

When someone says Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli in one breath, that white-knuckle moment when Kohli gave the former a stare-down in IPL 2020 comes to mind. But now, the duo makes for the best on-field partnerships.

While SKY has expressed many a time the comfort he’s in when Kohli is at the other end, the former India captain was seen cheering for some of Surya’s shots tonight, more than Surya himself. And inevitably, he had more than one question thrown at him about the so-called bromance.

“I think the thoughts and the plans are very clear. They depend on the situation I am going into bat in. Obviously at the same time, my plans are very clear when I go into bat. I look for boundaries, try and hit the gaps and run hard. When you are batting with him, you have to run hard as well. He just clears your thoughts. When I was batting and when I was a little confused, he was just coming upto me and telling me what delivery I can expect from the bowler. So it’s a very good camaraderie and I am really enjoying batting with him,” Suryakumar Yadav stated.

Watch: Virat Kohli's priceless reaction after SKY smashes a six to reach half-century as India finish on 179/2

Even though chalk and cheese, it is fair to say: without Surya, there wouldn’t have been Kohli, and vice-versa. And India definitely wouldn’t have been able to scale the peaks they eventually did. The heights reached also dictate that India are going to Perth sitting pretty at the top of the table.