Cricket news: Suryakumar Yadav, from unknown to star - Discovery power of IPL

Early career

Taking the pitch to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy in 2010, he scored 73 to mark his impressive debut. In 2011-12, he amassed 754 runs in just nine matches to emerge as one of the biggest names in Mumbai due to his consistent performances in domestic cricket.

IPL debut: Turning point

Getting picked by Mumbai Indians in the 2012 Indian Premier League, Suryakumar Yadav stumbled upon one of his turning points in his career as he got to play just one game. In 2014 he joined Kolkata Knight Rider but caught the limelight only when, in 2015, he stole a match for KKR against MI. 

Since his IPL debut, the batter accumulated 2644 runs in 107 innings at a strike rate of 136.78. But in all those years, his best performance came in 2022, where in just eight matches, he scored 303 runs at an average of 43.29 and strike rate of 145.67 to emerge as one of the significant contributors to his team Mumbai Indians. 

Debuting for the nation in 2021 to being called team India's X-factor in 2022

Suryakumar Yadav debuted in T20Is and ODIs in the year 2021. Since his debut, the scintillating batter has scored 648 runs in 20 T20Is at a stunning strike rate of 175.60 and 340 runs in 13 ODIs. 

From the time he hit a jaw-dropping hook off the first ball he faced in T20I cricket from Jofra Archer for six to make 57 on debut, he has made batting look ridiculously easy. 

His latest masterpiece came against West Indies, where he played a match-winning knock of 44-ball 76 and helped the team grab a 7-wicket win. Before this England tour, he scored his maiden T20I century and got into the elite list of players hitting a T20I century.

While his batting exploits left everyone in awe, his 360-degree game made the life of the opposition extremely tough. 

"It is the thing that I like to talk about the most about Suryakumar Yadav and that is his ability to hit the ball into funny areas. He can hit 360 degrees. He is not traditional…And when that's the case, he provides that little X factor in terms of something different to the other batsman around him, doesn't always have to be left-hand right hand," said Scott Styris.

After this performance, India's rising star rose higher in the latest ICC T20I rankings to occupy the second spot, surpassing Pakistan's wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan. He sits at number 2 with 816 points, whereas Babar Azam has 818 points.

With India still having two games remaining against the West Indies, Suryakumar Yadav has a high chance to overtake Babar Azam in the rankings chart.