Mumbai: Mumbai Indians (MI) star batter Suryakumar Yadav broke down his arsenal of batting shots he has deployed over the course of his career. From the iconic 'offside scoop' to his popular 'Supla' shot, Yadav shared the story behind the origins of the shots in his repertoire.
Fans of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have become familiar with the 33-year-old's 'Supla' shot, something he now revealed that he picked up playing tennis ball cricket in Mumbai.
"I suppose the name of the shot comes from the local tennis ball cricket that is played in Mumbai. And from there, when I started playing that shot because people have played a lot of it in tennis ball cricket, they started connecting with this shot and gave it a name. When the shot is played and is referred to as 'Supla' shot, it feels good to hear," Suryakumar Yadav said on JioCinema's show 'In The Nets'.
The elegant right-hand batter got into the details of how he perfected the shot while playing rubber ball cricket with his school friends while demonstrating how the shot is executed.
"The story behind the shot is beautiful. I used to play cricket on hard cement tracks with my school friends and there was a 20-metre boundary on the offside while the right side was about 90-100 metres. We used to play with rubber balls in the rainy season and make the ball wet before bowling it hard. They used to bowl from my knee till my head, so if you want to score runs while not getting hit by the ball, that's where the shot comes from. Whenever people ask me if I have practised this or not, I have used this shot so many times in rubber ball cricket that it's now in my muscle memory,” Yadav explained.
Hitting the 'Supla' shot is tricky, but Yadav has figured out when and how to use the shot when the situation demands it.
“I actually try to take the ball on the body when I play the 'Supla’ shot. Whenever I stand and hit, I try to be in the line of the ball. If you miss the line of the ball, it's very difficult to play that shot… I try to take the ball in line with the body and time it…," he added.
"There's no premeditation in this… Even if it's the first ball, if I want to use it, I'll do it because I go with the intent to bat, enjoy, and entertain as much as I can, as much as I have practiced. Even if it's the first ball, if it's in the arc, it will go. So, the fielder at the back is actually irrelevant for me. I don't see if he is there or not. If I want to play a shot, I have to play it," Yadav elaborated.
Not every batting inning is flawless, but Suryakumar Yadav knows how to create magical moments, regardless. That is precisely what he did in 2020 while facing Jofra Archer in his debut game for India, executing an incredible 'offside scoop' shot after taking a knock to the head.
"On the previous delivery, it hit me on my head and my head was spinning. After that, I thought I had to hit a different shot. I haven’t used this shot again since," the batter recalled.
Yadav also broke down other unique shots that he has played in his IPL career, including the 'uppercut shot' and the 'jump shot'. The Mumbaikar has scored 334 runs with a strike rate of 176.71 through nine appearances in the ongoing 17th edition of the IPL. He scored his season-high of not out 102 runs in his last game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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