Suryakumar Yadav: I Mastered Scoop Shot While Playing Rubber Ball Cricket | Cricket News

MELBOURNE: Suryakumar Yadav’s outrageous scoop bowled Zimbabwe’s pacer Richard Ngarava has a talking point in the T20 World Cup and the attacking Indian batsman says he has mastered the unorthodox stroke after years of rubber-ball practice.
Suryakumar mesmerized the 82,000 strong MCG crowd on Sunday with his ability to make strokes. His unbeaten knock of 61 runs from just 25 balls propelled India to an impressive 186 for 5.
The 32-year-old hit four sixes and six boundaries during this breathtaking knock.
One shot that stood out was from the last ball of the Zimbabwe innings. Suryakumar got down on one knee and picked up a Richard Ngarava full toss from outside the off stump and lofted it to the right side of fine leg for an unimaginable six.
The bold shot instantly struck a chord with the likes of Ravi Shastri and legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar praise it.
“You have to understand what the bowler is going to bowl at that time, which is a bit predetermined at that moment. I practiced that shot a lot when I used to play rubber-ball cricket,” Suryakumar, the world number one T20 batsman , said on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’.
“So, you have to think what the bowler is thinking at that time and when the field is in, I just back myself to go there. You have to know how long the boundary is behind. When I stand there, I feel it’s only 60- 65 meters and with the pace of the ball I just try to time it, take it on the sweet spot of the bat and if it hits, it just goes out there.”

Suryakumar Yadav (AFP photo)
While scoring his half-century, Suryakumar went past 1000 runs in T20 Internationals in 2022.
The 32-year-old is the first Indian to achieve the feat and only the second player to do so. Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan finished with 1,326 runs last year.
Suryakumar also talked about how he handles pressure situations.
“When I’m batting, I just try to get some boundaries, or even if I don’t get them, I just try to run as hard as possible between the wickets. If you have to bat with Virat bhai then you have to run hard.
“I try to do that, hit it in the gaps and run hard. But I know what shots I have to play at that time. I try to play a lot of percentage cricket. My shots are sweeps, covers, and cuts, if I manage to do that, I just take the game from there.”