Demonstrates his skill on slow surfaces with a 44-ball 83 as the visitors surpass the 160-run goal with more than two overs to spare.
Suryakumar Yadav gleamed brightly amid the darkness that enveloped Providence, as the clouds grew menacingly ominous and the groundskeepers tugged at the edges of the covers.
He was both impregnable and imperious here, negating the slowness of the wicket with deft use of pliable wrists, supreme spatial awareness, and a gymnast’s control of his body. His two previous knocks had been prevented from flowering by two outstanding fielding efforts, but this time he was both.
His outstanding performance, an 83 off 44 balls, kept India in the match against the tenacious West Indies, whom they triumphed by seven wickets while chasing 160. But more crucially, Yadav described his skill on slow decks.
It is particularly significant since many Indian batters are more at ease playing on faster surfaces than they are on the typical slow-turning subcontinental surfaces. In this series, Shubman Gill serves as a model case study.
Yadav, though, is a player who can quickly score on a slow surface. India may play on similar fields at the World Cup in two months, particularly at the end of the lengthy campaign when the playing surfaces may be worn down. Despite Yadav’s poor performance in the 50-over format (511 runs at an average of 24) the selectors would give him more consideration than just a passing thought as they try to decide the World Cup roster. Even though the door is still open, he must use his lengthier version of his T20I form to twist it open.
It was a statement that his poor ODI performance and failure to utilise his Test break had not harmed his performance in T20Is, as he still maintains his destructive batsmanship even on slow pitches when most other batters battled with timing. As is frequently the case with Yadav strumming along, Yadav made all of these issues seem irrelevant, even stupid. He makes even the hazardous shots appear risk-free in this format. Instead, Yadav sticks to what most batsmen would consider hazardous; in a nutshell, this is the essence of his style of play.
The scoop and sweep that fall flawlessly demonstrate this quality. Although it is challenging to scoop a quick on a quick track, there is always a speed to work with. One could escape peril by using quick hands, quick feet, and a flexible body. Impulses and instincts take over. However, it takes a difficult art to scoop a medium pacer on a surface where the ball stops. One can only move at a sluggish speed; one must wait forever and control their impulses.
Romario Shepherd had slowed down even further in this instance, remaining suspended in time. But Yadav also stopped moving. As he waited for the ideal time to make contact with the ball, he sank even lower to the ground while crouching. Watch how the ball is flailed over the short, fine-leg fielder by his hands. The drive for the stroke to soar above the ropes comes from that flap, from the whirring of the wrists. Yadav stumbled and fell on the ground. But when he encounters the balls, he stands motionless, like a sculpture, with every cell working in unison to carry out his mental commands.
Other times, those wrists directed and steered decent-length balls to various areas of the ground. This time, Shepherd’s off-cutter was wide and on a good length, but Yadav simply slapped it through the space between the point and third man by corking his wrists. Although his body was far from the ball and he appeared off-balance and nearly flailing, the connection was exquisite.
Like all of his substantive knocks, he repeatedly unfolded the sweep. He performed a variety of sweeps, including flat-struck sweeps, fine behind square sweeps, finer behind fine-leg sweeps, sweeps in front of square sweeps, and sweeps that looped over the ropes. Yadav is one of the best sweepers in modern cricket; among Indian batsmen, it is a dying talent. He may have received the opportunity to play his first Test against Australia because of it in a series that included furious turners. Selectors continue to have faith in him in the 50-over format because of that.
Why he hasn’t excelled in either, especially ODIs, is a puzzle. He possesses both skill and game; perhaps all it will take is one decisive blow to flip the tide. Before he is abandoned, it is crucial to stick with him since he may fill a range of roles, from stabiliser and anchor to enforcer and finisher. He has the ability to lead a pursuit and lead people around him. In the same way that he treated Tilak Varma, with whom he scored 87 runs for the third wicket to effectively win the game. Varma got things starting with a pair of beautifully struck fours, but he generally took Yadav’s backseat as most of his batting partners do. He might just blow up out of thin air. Few people possess the ability he did in Guyana to hit the first two balls he faced for sixes and fours. And he did it in the most carefree way possible, with a quick flick of his toes and a turn of his hips. If a batter with such exceptional talents ended up watching the World Cup from his living room or a VIP box, it would be inconceivable. The fans had witnessed the hail of boundaries that erupted off Yadav’s bat, yet the rain never came down in full fury.
