Suryakumar Yadav breaks silence on sluggish batting form with ‘Number One’ claim

Suryakumar Yadav is the world’s No. 1-ranked T20I batter. He has been so for almost two years now, but his current returns aren’t reflecting his true T20 batting calibre.

With 59 runs from three innings at the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar copped flak for his failures against Ireland and Pakistan and was labelled ‘minnow-basher’ by his trolls. However, against the USA, when India were reduced to 10/2, Surya curbed his natural attacking instincts and scored a valuable half-century to take his team home.

On a surface where Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli couldn’t get going, SKY showed the world that there were layers to his batting as he batted through the innings to score a very uncharacteristic yet crucial 50 not out off 49 balls. Scoring at just over a run a ball, Suryakumar’s strike rate was well below his usual scoring rate of 168, but through his innings, SKY proved how adaptability is must for any batter who’s been at summit since September of 2022.

“If have you been number one for two years, you should be able to bat in different conditions and change the game as per the needs of the team. That displays good batsmanship and that is what I try,” Suryakumar said during a media interaction on Tuesday.

“It’s difficult to generate that force when there’s no pace on the wicket and when someone has read your game nicely. So, at that time, you have to be very smart how you want to extend your innings. You have to change according to the situation, what team demands at that moment and talk to your partner who is inside, calm your nerves down and then take the innings ahead.”

Will West Indies pitches be any better?

The pitches in New York’s Nassau County were not just rough on Indian batters but other teams as well. Besides, the slow outfield didn’t help run-scoring either. A lot of hue and cry has been made about the pitches in the USA, and the lack of facilities that came with it. For example, despite no rain, the India vs Canada game had to be abandoned due to a wet outfield, which exposed the non-preparedness for a tournament as big as a World Cup.

Having said that, now that India are in the Caribbean for the Super Eights and hopefully the semifinal and the final, batting is expected to become slightly less challenging. Most of these players have played in the West Indies before, and SKY is hopeful of himself and his fellow batters to score a lot more freely.

“I was happy playing there as well (laughs). It’s not that we weren’t happy playing there, but we were playing for the first time, so yes, the conditions were different and little challenging as well. But we have played here (in West Indies), we know the conditions. The practice pitches, yeah, they were a little spicy in New York. It was fresh,” SKY added.

“They made the conditions after they got to know there is a World Cup there. Here they have been making pitches regularly and they are much better than (USA). That has always been my strong point (sweeps and reverse sweeps). I’ve tried to play the same way that I do in the practice sessions.”