Suryakumar Yadav assumes the arabesque position to try and access a gap in the field © Associated Press

We knew we were in for a ride when he hit the first ball he faced in international cricket for six: a one-legged hook off Jofra Archer, no less. But no one was quite prepared for just how good Suryakumar Yadav would be.

Hello, international cricket, goodbye, ball Ajit Solanki / © Associated Press

You can average over 40. You can strike at more than 170. But do both? Suryakumar is one of only five batters to have done so while scoring at least 200 runs in T20Is. The other four are Taranjeet Singh, Zeeshan Kukikhel, Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming and Bilal Zalmai. If you haven't heard of any of them, it's because they play for Romania, Hungary, Japan and Austria.

How does Suryakumar do what he does? It's simple, really, if you break it down. He reads the field, judges what line and length the bowler will deliver, and moves himself, before the bowler's release, to where he thinks the ball will come. From there, he lets his hands and wrists take over, and manoeuvres the ball into unpopulated areas outside the 30-yard circle.

He isn't alone in trying to bat this way, of course. He's just better than pretty much anyone else.

Make the first move: Suryakumar's ability to access all areas relies on getting into position early © SLC

The quadrant of the field he's most known to pepper is the one behind square on the leg side. When he made his unbeaten 61 off 25 balls against Zimbabwe, for instance, he repeatedly stepped, shuffled, or stretched across to the off side, leaving all three of his stumps exposed, to sweep and scoop Richard Ngarava's wide-line bowling into this area. The bowler was aware of the batter's intentions, so he often ended up slanting the ball beyond the wide tramline while delivering from left-arm over.

Suryakumar was working against this exaggerated angle, but it didn't seem to matter. It didn't seem to matter, either, that he was sometimes off balance when bat met ball, or that his eyes were closed.

The no-look, over-the-shoulder scoop © ICC/Getty Images

His numbers while hitting the ball behind square on the leg side are astonishing: 111 balls, 340 runs, and only six dismissals, giving him an average of 56.66 and a scarcely believable strike rate of 306.30. That's three runs per ball. It's no surprise then that the scoop to fine leg is perhaps the first shot you think of when you think of his 360-degree range. Just as you did with AB de Villiers.

Do it like AB © Getty Images

But behind square on the leg side is only 90 degrees. Suryakumar is just as prolific everywhere else. Behind square on the off side, he averages 54.20, and strikes at 203.76.

Add up all the areas behind the wicket, and he stands alone. Among all batters to have scored at least 200 runs behind the wicket since his debut, his strike rate of 250.40 is the best in the world.

The uppercut is a key weapon in Suryakumar's behind-point arsenal. He can play it when the ball is climbing above shoulder height...

SKY goes aerial Pankaj Nangia / © Getty Images

... and his flexibility allows him to play it even when you think the length isn't quite short enough.

Don't try this at home © AFP/Getty Images

And this, perhaps, is the defining feature of his batting. He's almost entirely unconstrained by the limits that length can enforce. Imagine you're Chris Jordan, setting your deep fielders square and bowling a hard length, trusting that there's no way the batter could possibly hit you over mid-off for six.

Straight out of the textbook. Well, almost © Getty Images

But Suryakumar did just that when he smashed his maiden T20I hundred at Trent Bridge. It was the perfect lofted off-drive, played against a ball of entirely the wrong length - wrong for everyone else.

You aren't supposed to flat-bat shoulder-high short balls past mid-off either.

Suryakumar stuns Kagiso Rabada with a down-the-line forehand winner © ICC via Getty Images

Or carve off-stump yorkers over backward point, one-handed.

Who, me, bottom-handed? Bikas Das / © Associated Press

But Suryakumar has found a way, almost every time. And each time, he has expanded the limits of what a batter can do in T20 cricket.

Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

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