The genius of Suryakumar Yadav lies in how he premeditates and creates angles to play his trick shots behind square. His patented Supla is arguably the most outrageous shot in T20 cricket.
It was expected that a quick Wanderers pitch and the rarefied air of the Highveld would be perfect for Suryakumar's Supla. Before the series decider between South Africa and India in Johannesburg, the last T20I at this venue had produced an aggregate of 433 runs. But Thursday was a bit different. The track was slower and drier than usual, with seamers taking pace off the ball even in the powerplay. Suryakumar didn't get the Supla away, but still found other ways to get on top of the conditions and on top of South Africa's attack.
Suryakumar (100) ended up outscoring South Africa (95), with 55 of his runs coming in front of square at a strike rate of nearly 200. He was on 27 off 25 balls at one point. When Andile Phehlukwayo tried to bowl slower balls into the pitch in the 13th over, Suryakumar ditched his premeditation and delayed his shots before whacking them in the arc between deep midwicket and wide long-on. He held his shape for long enough and waited for the ball to come to him because he knew that is when his power could have the most impact in these conditions.
That over, Suryakumar went 6, 4, 6, 6 against Phehlukwayo, and just like that, recovered from a slow start on a slow pitch.
Then, even when debutant Nandre Burger tried to hide the ball outside off, Suryakumar got inside the line and shovelled the left-arm fast bowler between deep midwicket and wide long-on with his powerful bottom hand. This was another reminder that he can access any quadrant of the field.
Nobody has more T20I hundreds than Suryakumar - he is joint-highest on four with two others - and they have all come in different conditions: Nottingham, Rajkot, Mount Maunganui and now Johannesburg. He had fallen 17 short of another hundred in a must-win match for India last August in the West Indies, which will host next year's T20 World Cup along with the USA. So Suryakumar knows that he has the game to succeed in all conditions.
"It's important to know your game really well - what you can do for your team - and I've thought the same thing," he said after winning both the Player-of-the-Match and the Player-of-the-Series awards. "Whatever the situation is, I just go out there and enjoy myself. If it's my day or if it's not my day... that balance is very important in life and I really enjoyed it."
Later, Suryakumar was writhing in pain after having seemingly rolled his ankle while fielding, which kept him off the field for the most part of India's successful defence, with Ravindra Jadeja taking over as captain. The smile, though, was back on his face after India sealed victory and squared the series 1-1.
"I'm good, and it [the ankle] is not looking that bad," Suryakumar said. "I'm walking, so it's all good. It's always a good feeling to get to a triple-figure [score] in a T20 game. When it comes in a winning cause for the team, I'm more than happy doing that."
What are the challenges of bowling to Suryakumar?
"He's a special player, and it was a really, really good knock tonight," David Miller said at his post-match press conference. "The guys executed more often than not, and he came out and still managed to hit those fours and sixes. I think he just manages to hit all around the ground. It was difficult to kind of set a field to him. So you kind of try to double-bluff at times and go outside of a normal plan, and so I think anyone that can lap, scoop, play straight, and hit you over cow corner and over cover is difficult to bowl to."
In a three-match series where the opening game was washed out without a ball bowled and the second game was interrupted by rain, India couldn't glean much. With India having only three more T20Is before the World Cup - and the IPL, of course - there are still some uncertainties surrounding their build-up to the tournament, but one thing is dead certain: Suryakumar is the gold standard of T20 batting.