The purists would be shocked, the adventurous would be in awe and the gritty would be stunned. You may belong to any section of the batting spectrum, shock and awe are the true emotions one experiences on seeing the belligerence of Surya Kumar Yadav, the SKY, who has been engulfing bowling units, all and sundry.
Surya Kumar Yadav has already scored three centuries in T20s against decent bowling sides of England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, in a career which is not even a couple of years old. He is already the no.1 T20 batsman in the world as per the ICC’s latest rankings. He is brushing shoulders with white ball greats like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and to be just to his talent, SKY at the moment is the best player on Indian soil particularly in the shortest format of the game.
His ability to hit balls to all corners of the ground is special, but the ability to hit low full tosses and yorker length deliveries from well outside the off stump to deep fine leg and deep mid wicket is mind boggling and truly exceptional. The wrists are so strong and supple at the same time, that SKY is able to direct balls way beyond the boundaries by just a mere flick. Parallels have been drawn between him and the legendary A B de Villiers, but even the great ABD would have been proud of some of the shots played by SKY. I have been an avid follower of Cricket and can say with utmost honesty that I haven’t yet come across a player with this amazing range of shorts, coupled with supreme confidence and brazen nonchalance. He is undoubtedly up there with ABD, with Jos Butler closely behind him.
Surya Kumar Yadav is already 32 and therefore the question arises, where was he all these years. Had it not been for the IPL we might have never seen the SKY we are witnessing today. We might have lost him in the tough grind of Domestic Cricket and severe competition. In the IPL too, it took a good 4 years for SKY to secure his position when he was bought by Mumbai Indians in 2018 from Kolkata knight Riders. Though initially he was bought by MI in 2014, he moved to KKR the following year. Since 2018 SKY has been prolific with his batting at MI and has carved a niche for himself.
There is no doubt that SKY is at the peak of his powers today. He is playing in a realm of a different Universe. He is winning matches for India virtually single handedly and providing massive entertainment along the way too. His presence in the Indian Team for the upcoming World Cup this year would be a terrific morale booster as India prepares to host the event.
This SKY is pouring Runs…a “better late than never” story.
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Featured Image courtesy MensXP
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Thank you so much
Riz Khan has analyzed so well on the abilities of SKY .Hope he continues to shine bright..