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It's not a sight you get to see very often when two high quality sides meet in a T20I game. India and New Zealand played out a very different kind of a contest in Lucknow on Sunday (January 29) where no sixes were hit the entire evening. The ball touched the boundary ropes only 14 times in the game and both the teams combined to send down an incredible 30 overs of spin. Eventually, it was the hosts who prevailed in a tight contest chasing down a target of 100 with a ball to spare.

The false start

New Zealand were never in control with the bat despite Finn Allen flicking Hardik Pandya for a boundary in the very first over. Washington Sundar's introduction at the other end gave a clear indication of what to expect on the surface and that prompted Hardik to introduce Yuzvendra Chahal in just the fourth over. That ploy worked as Allen attempted a reverse sweep, only to miss the ball as it crashed into the stumps after hitting his leg. Devon Conway endured a similar fate as he too attempted a reverse sweep, this time off Washington, only to get a glove as Ishan Kishan completed an easy catch. Those two wickets put them on the backfoot as New Zealand made only 33 in the powerplay.

Spinners strangle New Zealand

What followed was a barrage of spin. Hardik had seen enough in the powerplay and brought on Deepak Hooda and Kuldeep Yadav into the attack to make full use of the conditions. They didn't disappoint as Glenn Phillips found his stumps rearranged after another reverse sweep didn't yield the desired result. Kuldeep then got one to turn a mile to clean up Daryl Mitchell as India took full control.

Source: https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/125338/india-prevail-in-spin-dominant-contest-to-level-series

Suryakumar Yadav has lit up the T20I format like no other batter before him. While Suryakumar's three hundreds and 13 fifties - in just 43 innings - is impressive, what's more incredible is that he has an average of 46.4 while striking at 180.3.

That strike rate is too high to be accompanied by the consistency which that average represents. T20 batters are either attacking or consistent. They are very rarely both at the same time; even if they are, they aren't for as long as Suryakumar has managed to be.

Let's put those numbers in perspective. Andre Russell scored 627 runs at a strike rate of 168.1 in 43 innings from 2014 to 2021. This was the highest strike rate achieved by a batter before Suryakumar over a period as long as his, in terms of innings. But Russell averaged only 21.6.

Suryakumar has benefited from playing a lot of T20Is within two years of his debut, though, that too while being in prime form. Most other batters have had T20I appearances spread over longer periods. So the vagaries of time are likely to have affected the form of batters such as Russell.

A fairer comparison would be with Jos Buttler. In his last 43 innings, Buttler has averaged 45.1 striking at 151.5. That is the highest strike rate for any batter other than Suryakumar who averages 45+ across 43 innings in T20Is. Suryakumar's strike rate is nearly 19% better than Buttler's in this time frame. That's how rare it is to pair an average of 45+ with a strike rate of 180+ over an extended period.

Source: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/stats-analysis-suryakumar-yadav-in-a-league-of-his-own-in-t20is-1355812

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