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Abu Dhabi, 2020. It is one of the exciting October evenings in the Middle East. It’s cool to the touch but the pressure of the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore makes the heat and pressure unbearable.
He put RCB 164 on the board and on a slightly slower surface, he seemed to have a good shot at defending it. Then they brought out Quinton de Kock in the powerplay. With Rohit Sharma not playing either, RCB’s chances seem to be increasing.
Well, until Suryakumar Yadav steps into the middle. He gets into a bit of a staring contest with Virat Kohli during his roles but he doesn’t flinch. Suryakumar hits every possible area of ​​the field, making his way to 79* and MI crossing the finish line.
The knockout, because it came against RCB, captained by Kohli, who is also the captain of India, is getting a lot of attention. Suryakumar manages to fend off any scare tactics used by the RCP, it just goes to show how tough the character of the lad from Mumbai is.
Once the match is won, Suryakumar points to the dressing room, asking everyone why they are worried about De Kock’s early departure and not to worry while he is away in the middle. A gesture filled not with insults but with a quiet confidence that he knew what he was doing, and that he knew only a handful (if at all) were better at it than he was.
Two weeks later, MI won its fifth IPL title. Suryakumar of course played a huge role. He cemented his solo reputation as well, while portraying MI as one of the best franchises to ever exist.
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It’s now 2023. Not even three years have passed since that evening in Abu Dhabi, but it feels like a long time ago. This, though, is largely because Suryakumar is now one of the the The greatest batters with the shortest format ever.
His T20I numbers are unmatched, and whenever Mumbai needed him to stand up, he did. This season, he’s already amassed three fifties, with all of them coming in the run chases. Two of those led to MI winning but all of those led to a lot of humor from those in the stands and those watching at home.
However, it is the May 9, 2023 game against RCB that MI needs to win to stay in playoff contention. A loss wouldn’t eliminate them completely but it would make their path to the playoffs much more difficult. They end up conceding 199, which will be enough on most days, especially with RCB’s bowling attack.
But on Tuesday, that wasn’t enough. Countless hours could be spent on how RCB left about 20 running out in the middle and how they didn’t use the deck as well as they could have. But the only reason for their defeat was Suryakumar Yadav – like he was three years ago in Abu Dhabi.
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Suryakumar Yadav turns his head with his bid against RCP
Now that this whole story has been established, let’s get into what Suryakumar really accomplished in Wankidi vs RCP. Not only did he rob 83 off 35 balls – a strike involving sevens and sixes, he reminded everyone why he currently sits on a base that very few can only dream of.
When the spinners came, he scooped them up for fun. When fast bowlers tried to hit the ball short, he was ready to cut it at the top. And when full, he played square drives and square drives as described in the traditional textbook of stroke work.
The best part about it, however, is that at the beginning of his innings, Suryakumar looked a little ginger when running between the wickets. Sunil Gavaskar even mentioned in the broadcast that he was not running as fast as he would have liked.
Maybe he was tired or maybe he was holding a grudge. Or perhaps he just knew that there would come a point not long in coming when he would hit any ball for the boundary. As it turns out, he was right.
There is something different about Suryakumar every time he goes out to bat. On Tuesday, he produced hits that have become the envy of the cricket world over the past two years. But whenever he lined up to face the ball, I sensed he was about to produce something special, or indulge in some shot they hadn’t seen yet.
Just when you, as a bowling team, think you’ve nailed it, it does something crazier and funnier – while giving the sense that this was something he’d had in his arsenal all along.
This is the kind of aura he carries now. It is known to almost everyone which areas he fancies but they cannot prevent, especially when Suryakumar is in full flow.
RCB tested it out at Wankhede Stadium. And this wasn’t the first time this had happened either. In fact, he now has 425 runs against them in the IPL, averaging over 35 and hitting over 150.
Of course, the most famous of these runs came when Suryakumar was still waiting for his big break in international cricket, however, he was brave enough to beat Kohli.
If those innings caught the imagination, this strike only dared cricket-watching folk to reset what could be considered fantasy. It has often made you ask what is humanly possible on a cricket field with a bat in your hand.
For Suryakumar, it was just another day at the office. Just another day at the office. These iterations are enough to tell you what kind of cricketer he has become. And why wouldn’t someone like him come along in a very, very long time.
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