How Suryakumar Yadav unleashed his inner beast in Sydney!

Suryakumar Yadav during his 51* v The Netherlands on Thursday at Sydney. Pic/AP;PTI

It's hard to believe that Suryakumar Yadav is just 19 months old as an Indian cricketer, or that he has only played 36 Twenty20 Internationals. Such has been his command over the most fickle of formats that, in that short period, he has supplanted established superstars like Rohit Sharma who has four T20I hundreds, and Virat Kohli, who averages in excess of 50, as the most crucial component of the Indian batting wheel.

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The legend of Suryakumar the T20 destroyer received another fillip on Thursday night when, on a surface of dubious character, he batted without a care in the world, blasting an unbeaten 51 off just 25 deliveries against an honest Netherlands attack that was embellished by the stop-start nature of the pitch. Where Rohit had struggled for timing and Kohli was happy to bat within himself, Suryakumar unleashed his inner beast with spectacular results.

The volume of runs - 1,111 in 34 innings at a breathless strike rate of 177.47 - hasn't come about by accident. It's the result of hours of smart practice with game situations as the motivating force. "It feels really good to have the numbers, but at the same time, what I have been doing in the last few years is just eating fruits of that hard work, maybe. What I have done during my practice sessions back home when I go back to Mumbai is I try and put a lot of pressure on myself, playing a match scenario and stuff like that," the Player of the Match was to say later in the night.

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"For example, if I am targeting a few balls, and I have to get N number of runs, if I get out, I just come out. That day, I don't go into bat again. I've been reflecting on the same things when I go into the games, my plans have been very clear. What shots I have in my kitty, I just go out and express that. I won't do anything out of the box. It has been helping me, and hopefully I'll try and do the same thing in the coming games."