Suryakumar Yadav's breakout domestic season continues

He had faced just 10 deliveries before this match. On both those occasions he had come in to bat to wrap up the formalities. Today was different.

Suryakumar Yadav walked in to bat off the second ball of the Kolkata Knight Riders innings. He then watched his captain Gautam Gambhir run himself out in suicidal fashion in the third over. Yadav today did not just have many overs to bat, but also had to bat his team out of trouble.

On the Indian domestic circuit, Suryakumar is not the most liked of cricketers. Even though the Mumbai batsman has worked hard to walk away from the brash youngster attitude he had cultivated a few years ago, many still don't believe him. But Suryakumar has not bothered too much about opinion. He has grown in his role both at Mumbai and the Knight Riders with the franchise appointing him deputy to Gambhir.

Suryakumar came to the crease chewing gum. He swiftly released the pressure that mounted in the immediate wake of the fall of the Uthappa and Gambhir - the best batsmen so far in the tournament for the Knight Riders. In the past, Suryakumar used to play streaky innings where he would introduce fancy strokes like lapping the fast bowlers.

Today, he removed the risk element out of his play and instead preferred the straight and full face of the bat. He had already cut Albie Morkel hard when offered width on the off side and then uppercut Thisara Perera when the Sri Lankan bowled short and outside off stump.

But the best shot of his innings, and possibly the match, came in Morkel's second over when, picking a fullish delivery quickly, Suryakumar punched the ball for a straight four and could not stop showing the full face of the bat in his follow through.

It was Suryakumar's way of telling Rising Pune Supergiants to watch out for him. Suryakumar was on the lookout for any bad balls. When R Ashwin flighted a ball into his legs, Suryakumar happily lofted the senior offspinner over long-on for his first six. When Ashwin came round the stumps to cramp him in his following over, Yadav once again repeated the stroke to deflate the offspinner's confidence. Ashwin did not bowl another over in the match.

According to Supergiants' coach Stephen Fleming, his bowlers offered too many free hits for Suryakumar to prosper. But Suryakumar deserved more credit. This Ranji season, Suryakumar finished 14th overall in runs with 690 at 43.12 and played a pivotal role in Mumbai emerging as champions.

Suryakumar's strengths are playing the ball late, keeping a close eye on the field and opening the face of the bat at the last moment to run down the ball fine towards third man and fine leg. He can play all the strokes in the book. However, too many times in the past he has tried to be cute and paid the price.

On Sunday, Suryakumar was attentive to MS Dhoni's field changes and the bowlers' plans. He also was aware that a partnership with Yusuf Pathan was crucial and he needed to bat deep if the Knight Riders were to get past the finish line. Most importantly, Suryakumar understood when to press the accelerator and not lose momentum.

It was one thing that Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith could not be accused of during their 56-run partnership, which took 50 balls to achieve, as they were building the platform in the first innings. Although the Supergiants' pair were dutiful throughout, their inability to hit the big release shots meant that their team might have fallen short by about 15 runs in the final count.

It was not that Suryakumar's was a perfect innings. In the end, he cursed himself for failing to read the googly from M Ashwin and was trapped lbw. The Knight Riders still needed 42 runs off 25 balls, which their lower order eventually managed by breaking a lot of sweat. But if not for his fifty, Suryakumar's maiden half-century in the IPL, the Knight Riders might have quit the battle long back.