That India remained firm favorites – though not as strongly contended as England and Australia – ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 despite losing two of their first XI players – Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah – down to two players: Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli.
Suryakumar in particular has just been sensational and came into the tournament as arguably the best T20 batter in the world currently, and could leave the tournament as one of the best ever in the shortest format.
Kohli, already a legend of the format, especially in T20 World Cups, had broken his 71st-century wait in the Asia Cup, and played match-winning knocks against Australia and South Africa at home, while combining with Suryakumar to produce enthralling partnerships; the former captain had given all signs of a return to his previous best.
Second game into the Super 12, and the partnership between the two flourished once again as India downed the Netherlands.
There is a growing cult around the partnerships between the two. For all good reasons. All of which suggests that the “SurVir” – the terms coined for this breathtaking pair by Suryakumar himself – can bring the T20 World Cup trophy back to India, 15 years after winning the first one.
Here are three components of Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli’s game together that might help India to win the T20 World Cup 2022:
Suryakumar’s game complements that of Virat Kohli
Let’s be honest: many had doubted whether the approach of Virat Kohli in the shortest format fits into the modern era, and that should India have included an extra fast starter – someone like Sanju Samson, or Prithvi Shaw – in the setup earlier.
And while the question still remains – because Kohli, though he’s shown signs previously of buying into the fast-start modus operandi of Rohit-Dravid, has stayed mostly true to his own game. Excusing the Pakistan game, due to the early fall of wickets, the conditions, and the bowling attack, Kohli once again got off to a slow start against the Netherlands – Kohli was 19 (21) when Suryakumar walked in.
SKY being SKY attacked the bowlers from the onset of his innings, hitting two boundaries in his first four balls, and raced to 26(12) while Kohli was on 37(33), before Kohli too exploded in the death overs.
This has been the theme of their previous partnerships as well – 98* off 42 vs Hong Kong, 104 off 62 vs Australia, 102 off 42 vs South Africa, and 95* off 48 vs Netherlands. In all of them, Kohli had been batting at a pedestrian rate when SKY had walked in and started doing his things and he continued to drop anchor before upping his rate.
That Suryakumar starts quickly with a flurry of boundaries gives Kohli the time and balls to settle himself in, for he and everyone knows, he becomes dangerous once he’s had his time to gauge the conditions first. In essence, it is Suryakumar who makes life easier for Kohli.
India’s two most in-form batters
Let’s look at them individually. Well, there is little left unrevealed about both.
Since the start of 2021, Suryakumar is the third-highest run-scorer in T20Is with 1111 runs at an average of 39, behind Rizwan (2165 at 61) and Babar (1554 at 36). But, the strikes rate comparison is laughable: where Suryakumar strikes at 177, the Pakistani openers score at around 130, and both have often been lampooned for playing effectively match-losing innings at times.
With Suryakumar, it’s either boom or bust: he either continues to score runs rapidly or rarely wastes balls, not leaving others with little to face and more to climb. SKY has been perhaps the most in-form T20 batter, and arguably the most destructive one in middle overs and death overs.
Kohli, now the leading T20I run-scorer, has been on an upward curve since returning from a month-long break: an anchor match-winning knock against Pakistan and a century vs Afghanistan in Asia Cup, followed by fifties vs Australia and South Africa at home. He started the T20 WC with a memorable, one-for-ages knock against Pakistan, followed by another fifty vs the Dutch.
With Rohit and Rahul struggling for consistency – the latter especially – the “SurVir” at number 3 and 4 are India’s backbone in the batting line-up.
SKY’s smarts meet VK’s Class, giving an unbearable headache to the opposition
As a fielding captain and bowler, what do you do when a batsman fetches a delivery – the third he faced – outside from off and puts it on the square leg fence, and then drives the next ball through covers? Your mind gets confused, and you eventually give up trying to make plans because the batter is just one step ahead of you. This is what India’s best 360-degree man, Suryakumar, did to Scott Edwards and the Netherlands.
Suryakumar’s elite range, one which has been seen in few Indian batters over the past 16 years of the shortest format, does the job of giving a headache to the opponent, a factor which has been also taken advantage of by Kohli, who is another fine operator of toying with the field. The two have so far combined to become a deadly combination.
The test for this combo will be in bigger games such as the semi-final, and final, and especially for Kohli if the pitch is flat where he’d be required to be a bit more pragmatic in his approach while Suryakumar will be Suryakumar, irrespective of the nature of the surface.
