Can Suryakumar Yadav Conquer His Pace Demons Ahead of the T20 World Cup?

Once capable of flooding the entire ground with what seemed to be an endless torrent of runs, Suryakumar could barely fill a bucket last year, scoring just 218 runs in 19 innings at a shockingly poor average of 13.62 and a strike rate of 123.16, befitting a batter trying to crack the short format code, not one of its biggest masters.

While fantastic leadership and results have helped his form slip under the radar till now, it is now over as SKY has to bring his 'A' game considering that Indian cannot have their skipper and one of their finest T20I specialists out of touch heading into an all-important T20 World Cup starting from February 7.

Multiple times during the pressers and interviews, Suryakumar has backed himself to come good, saying that "I am not out of form, but out of runs". This self-belief does not look ill-placed, considering he had cracked 717 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year with five fifties and 25-plus scores in every match.

But since November 2024 in T20Is, his performances against pace have declined sharply, with the average falling off a cliff. What used to be an average of 38.04 against pace since his debut till October 2024 is now just 8.11, as per Cricbuzz stats, with a strike rate of just under 110. Better bowling? Decline of reflexes as he enters mid 30s? Or just a bad patch after an almost inhuman run of two years which will be spoken of glowingly in history books? It is not clear.

16 of his 18 dismissals have come while going the aerial route, and maybe the idea of going all guns blazing has taken priority over building an innings. There is one more proof of his ability to build an innings which has taken a hit during this lean patch. Till October 2024, Suryakumar used to hit 16.1 per cent of his first 10 deliveries against pace, now the number has risen to 23.3 per cent. While the Indian skipper has started going aerial more often against pacers, his control percentage over his shots has declined sharply, from almost 86 per cent control from debut-October 2024 to 51.90 per cent from November 2024 onwards. The intent to score and dominate is still there, but Suryakumar has lost control over his shot-making, getting out to poor aerial strokes more often.

Will Surya bounce back from his pace demons as he chases the 3,000 run mark in T20Is, standing just 212 runs away from it or will his woes continue? Only time will tell.

- ANI