Suryakumar Yadav unleashes purple patch after horrendous run: Decoding stats
Suryakumar Yadav, on Friday (May 12), hammered his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) hundred against a formidable Gujarat Titans bowling line-up. He smoked an unbeaten 103 off 49 balls as Mumbai Indians beat GT by 27 runs. While his recent form has been phenomenal, he endured a horrendous run in the first half of the season. Here we decode his stellar comeback.
Another explosive knock from SKY
Suryakumar arrived in the sixth after following the departure of MI skipper Rohit Sharma (29). He went after the bowlers from the outset as the scoring rate never came down. SKY reached the mark on the final ball of the innings. Interestingly, he had touched the 50-run mark in the 17th over. His knock was laced with 11 fours and six maximums.
Three golden ducks in Australia series
SKY's preceding assignment before IPL 2023 was the three-match home ODI series against Australia. Astonishingly, the dasher bagged golden ducks in all three games as India lost 1-2. While left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc dismissed him twice, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar knocked SKY over in the final game. He became the first batter to record golden ducks in every ODI of a series.
Poor run continued in the first half of IPL
SKY's struggles continued in the first half of the season. 15, 1, and, 0 were his scores in MI's first three games as SKY recorded his fourth duck in six innings. He roared back to form with a 25-ball 43 against Kolkata Knight Riders. Many called his heroics against KKR a fluke as he managed just 7 in his subsequent outing against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Start of the purple patch
SKY's maiden fifty of the season came against Punjab Kings and that was the start of his purple patch. He scored 57 off just 26 balls. 23(12), 55(29), 66(31), 26(22), 83(35), and 103*(49) were his scores in the following six games. His return to form significantly benefited the five-time champions as MI now have four wins in their last five games.
Highest strike rate in IPL 2023
Three of MI's last four wins have come while chasing 200 or more. SKY scored fifties in all three games. He has now raced to 479 runs in 12 games at 43.55. Only Faf du Plessis (576) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (575) boast more runs this season. His strike rate of 190.84 is the highest among batters with at least 100 runs this season.
A look at his overall IPL numbers
Earlier this season, SKY completed 3,000 IPL runs. He has now raced to 3,123 runs in 135 games in the cash-rich league at 30.51. While his strike rate reads 142.99, the tally includes 20 fifties besides a ton. 2,515 of these runs have come in MI colors at a strike rate of 145.96. Meanwhile, SKY has now raced to 108 IPL sixes.
