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Last December, days after confessing publicly that “Surya the batter went missing somewhere, but he’ll be back stronger,” Suryakumar Yadav told his wife he needed a break from cricket. He would open his kitbag only in the new year, he said. No more dragging himself into the extreme pressure zone.
For a long while during his fallow period, he had maintained in media conferences that he “wasn’t out of form, just out of runs.” Perhaps that belief was beginning to wear thin within himself. He had been constantly asking friends for open feedback on why the runs had dried up. The bass-filled party songs that once blared from his car speakers had given way to devotional music. ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ became his most-played track. He needed a way out, and a break was the wise move.
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Prior to the New Zealand T20I series in January, where his fortunes began to turn, he had scored just 100 runs in 11 innings. Just before mothballing his kit at the end of the T20 home series against South Africa, he had talked about revisiting his old videos. “You go back to your old clips where you batted really well and delivered for India, and you try to carry the same thing forward.”
Photographer’s delight
Nostalgia can warm not just the subject himself, but the viewers as well. It’s worth noting that of all the current-day batsmen, Surya’s shots are a photographer’s delight, with a balletic balance about them. If a flipbook of photos were made of him at the moment of execution, it would be an acrobatic ensemble. Standing on his back toes, the whole weight seemingly tilting him backwards, yet somehow his hands wriggle free to send the ball sailing over midwicket. Or those down-on-his-knee sweeps from outside off stump – off pacers, no less. No one, barring AB de Villiers, has contorted body and mind to conjure such impossible-angled shots. One-legged, one-handed, on his knee, on his back – he has been there, done that.
Suryakumar’s shots are a photographer’s delight, with a balletic balance about them. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)
Then the blinds came down. Statistical data revealed that many of his dismissals last year had come off pacers, with lofted shots going awry – often within the first 10 balls he faced. It was surmised that he was going for his shots too early, as control percentages had dipped.
But a more curious pattern emerged. His signature shots – the supla and the rest that would send pacy balls behind square-leg – weren’t as frequent or as productive as before. Had his famously supple wrists lost their elasticity?
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To offset this, he had started going downtown more often, but he was being caught at mid-on or mid-off, failing to lean into the shots as much as required. Take the balance out of a batsman, and you can get him. The pacers had begun to pry out that most important trait from Surya. So he packed his kit, took a break, and returned fresh.
Positive signs
Perhaps it was his body refreshed after the mental holiday – things began turning slowly during the New Zealand series. As India’s T20 captain, he has been rather good. But even good captains need individual performances at some stage, especially in India, where even prodigiously talented batsmen are left out.
This is where, even if it came against the modest bowling of the USA, that match-winning 84 is likely to prove crucial. Captain Surya can breathe easy that batsman Surya is showing good signs. There were a couple of shots in the game that would have warmed his heart. He walked down the track to Saurabh Netravalkar, then suddenly went down on his knee to swat it flamboyantly behind backward square-leg. In another instance, in the 19th over, he fetched a ball outside off stump from Shadley van Schalkwyk and smeared it high over square-leg.
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Another welcome trait was visible, too. When the runs had dried up, he had shown impatience, trying to force aggression. But with India reduced to 77 for 6, he bided his time. In his pomp years in the IPL, he had shown the rare knack of constructing an innings even in this frenetic format. That had faded last year. Now it’s back.
The next question he faces is whether he can play similar knocks consistently against the quality pace bowlers that await him later in the World Cup. He had done so to an extent in the New Zealand series, but that question is yet to be answered comprehensively, as that would well and truly mark his return to form. The good thing is that even in his worst run with the bat, he continued to shine as captain.
The songs have changed, the rhythm is returning, and Surya is finding his way back – one impossible-angled shot at a time.
English (US) ·