Suryakumar Yadav: A T20I genius operating to a different set of physical rules

Richard Ngarava stopped abruptly in his follow-through and turned towards Craig Ervine, stationed at extra cover. The captain shrugged and walked up to the bowler with consolation and a plan bearing another alphabet. Zimbabwe had run through a few against Suryakumar Yadav. They tried the hard lengths with mid-off and mid-on up in the ring. They tried the slower balls hoping to deny him pace on his scoops. They moved point to the fence and brought cover and mid-off into the ring.

This particular one in the final over had its merits. The left-arm seamer bowling over the wicket was going to angle the ball across the right-hander. The off-side was protected at long-off, sweeper cover and deep-point. To access the legside, the batter would have to shuffle and hit against the angle. Validation came when Hardik Pandya's attempts to do so ended with an edge to short third-man for a catch. But when the strike turned over to Suryakumar again, the plot began to sicken for Zimbabwe.

The only mistake Ngarava really made was that he couldn't quite land his wide yorkers, but low full-tosses can be just as effective at the death, especially when they head diagonally to the tram lines. Suryakumar glided to his right, stretched out with front leg across and towards the wide line, crouched low to meet the ball and then used his wrists to sweep-flick the ball over the square-leg for six. All in a blur of improvisational brilliance.

Ngarava stuck to his field and bowled a better low full-toss and Suryakumar swept him again for a four over square leg. Blessing Muzarabani joined the conference ahead of the last ball of the innings and insisted that square leg be pushed back to the fence end and long-on brought into the circle. Suryakumar glided to the right once more and this time flicked it over short fine-leg for another six and began walking to the dug-out. Axar Patel and Wellington Masakadza made no attempts to hide their awe as he walked by.

At the end of that mini sequence it was tempting to conclude what some have already suggested - that Suryakumar is a T20 genius operating to a different set of physical rules. At the MCG in a World Cup game, he hit 61* off 25, struck at a strike-rate of 244 while those that batted with him went at 108, became only the second player to cross 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year and lifted India out of a slight wobble, all while being both ruthless and decorative simultaneously.

If Suryakumar has done this before in bigger games, against stronger opponents, that should not diminish this latest dance in front of 82,257 people. There is always an urge to scoff at the sensationalising of the present, but to play the way he did and have the teammates say 'they expected it' is an indication that we're looking at a player at the peak of his influence, who is consistent while striking at 180.

"Yeah, it's incredible," India coach Rahul Dravid said. "That's why he is the No. 1 T20 player in the world at the moment, because of that consistency in a format where scoring at a strike rate that he does... it's not easy to be consistent with the kind of strike rate he's going at. So, it's just fantastic the way he's playing. I think he's been very clear in his processes. He's very clear about his tactics.

"I think he's worked very hard. I think one of the things about Surya is just the amount of hard work that he's put in in the nets, in thinking about his game, his fitness. If I look at Surya from a couple of years ago, just to see how he takes care of his body and the amount of time he spends on his fitness, I think he's just really earning the reward for a lot of the hard work that he's put in on and off the field, and long may it continue. I think he's been absolutely phenomenal for us. He's just a joy to watch. It's a pleasure to watch him bat when he's in that kind of form. Every time it's like he puts on a show, without a doubt."

What's astonishing is that he's pretty much been in that kind of form since announcing himself to international cricket by lapping Jofra Archer over the 'keeper for six in Ahmedabad last year. And his range of shots, as teammate Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out, greatly complement those of the others in the line-up who are more orthodox and hit to more straighter parts of the ground. More importantly, his rate of scoring and his fast starts allow his batting partner the luxury of time to work his way into an innings. It was Kohli against Netherlands, it was Pandya today.

It is part of what makes him brilliant and in the bluntest terms, we were still waiting for another player to rationalise his gifts more concisely than Virat Kohli did at the Asia Cup. "Kya hai ye?(What is he?). Ashwin had a go in Melbourne. "The way Suryakumar is batting, it is wonderful, it is free-spirited, free-willed. He is at that stage of his career... he's not a spring chicken but he is pretty young into his international career."

And this is perhaps Suryakumar's wider significance, a reminder that playfulness and joy are the essence of what he does, that he succeeds by rewriting these physical rules of batting to communicate this basic sense of freedom, of something upliftingly impish.