Surya Kumar Yadav – a story of talent, hard work, forbearance and preservation. Some of the attributes to understand Suryakumar Yadav best would be through the lens of impeccable adjectives. An inspirational story of a cricketer who didn’t give up hope and believed in himself even when the time was racing against him and his dream started to become distant as a pipe dream. The 32-year-old bided his time vacuously while his bat made all the noise in the IPL and domestic circuit. Suryakumar Yadav's younger years in his 20s were spent beavering away at Ranji and IPL until his most awaited day to play for India finally arrived. We look into the life of the star cricketer who arrived late to the scene but on the back of years of cricketing credentials had a meteoric rise to popularity.
Suryakumar Yadav Biography
Surya Kumar Ashok Yadav the 32-year-old star cricketer was born in Mumbai on September 10, 1990, and showed early signs of his penchant for cricket at a nascent age of 10. His father Ashok Kumar Yadav noticed his flair for the sport and admitted him to a cricket camp in BARC colony in Anushakti Nagar. He embarked on his journey starting with playing for his school team. Fast forward to 12 years in 2012, Suryakumar Yadav bumped into the woman of his life Devisha for the first time in 2012 at his college the R.A Poddar college of commerce and economics, Mumabi.
Suryakumar Yadav Cricket Career
His List-A career was off to a positive start when he played his first game for his home side Mumbai on February 11, 2010, against Gujarat. The positive start can be illustrated when we learn that he was the second-highest run-getter in that game. Suryakumar Yadav left his future imprints of what was to come via his idiosyncratic shots that had scored a quick fire 41 runs off 37 balls.
It was time to tick off his T20 debut from the list as months later in 2010 his first T20 match happened against Hyderabad in Syed Ali Mushtaq Trophy. However, Suryakumar Yadav didn’t leave much of an impression as he was dismissed for five runs and the team subsequently faced a defeat of 7 wickets.
With the arrival of 2011, arrived another opportunity for the promising young star with a fledgling career to make the most of. The first class test debut for Mumbai in Ranji came against Delhi and now was the time for him to light up the room with fireworks. This time Suryakumar Yadav left no stones unturned in upstaging all his counterparts as he scored a solid 73 which was the highest of the match.
Suryakumar Yadav IPL Career
With the IPL becoming a huge success as a pioneering cricket league and churning out future players for India in the shorter format, SKY was one name that was not going to be brushed aside. Mighty impressed by his credential, he fit the bill for Mumbai Indians and was bought by the MI franchise for which he is a valuable player today. Suryakumar Yadav was offered a contract by Mumbai Indians in 2011 although he spent the entire season was spent on the sidelines in the presence of veteran players such as Sachin, Mahela, Rohit and Pollard. He stayed with the team till 2013 in a span where he played a handful of games before getting picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders 2013.
That is when it was time for his lethargic IPL career to pick the pace and that is precisely what happened as playing for KKR plucked him from the shade of obscurity to the realm of prominence. Suryakumar Yadav made headlines with his match-winning innings of 46 runs off just 20 balls against his former team MI which stole the thunder of Rohit Sharma’s 98 thoroughly. Such cameos became recurrent from the willow of Sky which made sure he played all the matches of the 7th edition of IPL. Due to his incredible hitting, Suryakumar Yadav had runs galore with a stunning strike rate of 131.61 had 612 runs in 55 IPL games and also saw him as the vice-captain of the team.
In 2018 he was again bid by his erstwhile team Mumbai Indians and this time he was eyed by them in a determinant manner as he raked in a whopping deal of 3.2 crores which was the most expensive buy of the auction among the uncapped players. The 2019 IPL was a career-defining season for him as it made him even more conspicuous in the eyes of the selectors, he played 16 matches and scored 424 runs at a healthy average of 32.61 with 71 being his highest score. Suryakumar Yadav continues to be an extremely important cog in the wheel for Mumbai Indians, a bigwig from a nonentity.
Suryakumar Yadav International Career
In February 2021, the day Suryakumar Yadav longed for was at his doorstep when he was all poised to play for the Indian cricket team against England. It was his international debut in T20I and it was a memorable one as on his debut he scored a half-century that kicked off with a six against the ace speedster Jofra Archer.
The following day it was time for him to hop from T20IS debut to ODIs debut, where he was promoted to the no.3 position and hailed as an X-factor for the team.
