There is just Sky above us. A starry night sky. The sky is the limit. Diamonds are loose in the sky. If you want something more subtle, try Up, up and away, walking on sunlight, or come fly with me.
“Excuse me while I kiss the Sky,” said Jimi Hendrix. In the words of Bob Dylan: “No-one is free, even the birds are chained to the Sky.” Or the words of another musician: “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset Sky.” Rabindranath Tagore had a gift with words.
Please excuse the unnecessary capitalization. It’s what happens when the current patron saint of cricket’s headline writers, Suryakumar Yadav, gets approved for takeoff, as he was at the Wanderers on Thursday. Fifty percent of 32. The following 50 are off 23. There are a total of seven fours. There are eight sixes. They hastened into being a century that never seemed to go away. It was the end of the ball after it had been rendered thrillingly real. Then, in the third over of South Africa’s reply, a turned ankle drew the curtain down on Sky’s involvement. The agony. The poem. Who needs verbs when you have pure batting vectors like this?
Yadav smashed some deliveries with tremendous intensity, particularly to the off side. Others, particularly those so close to his leg that they landed right behind his recoiled back, his bat met with precise time. The ball was frequently chastened into regions of the field where it should not have been. But this was not about conformity. It was about what occurs when the logic of striking a cricket ball with greatest effect and efficiency defies conventional wisdom. As a result, it’s as impossible to envision Suryakumar playing like this in previous, more suffocating times as it is to imagine people who would have seen him then being as thrilled by how he performed.
It’s also difficult to picture Suryakumar not loving every second of his time on the crease. Even through the veil of a screen, his interactions with the press this week have revealed a man who can find enjoyment beyond the pressures of not just playing international cricket but also captaining the world’s largest team. At 33, he is nearing the conclusion of his career rather than the beginning, but what a lot of fun he will have before removing his batting gloves for the last time.
If additional players adopted his mentality toward the game, they might be able to replicate his success: Thursday’s achievement was his fourth T20I century, tying him with Glenn Maxwell and Rohit Sharma for the most hundreds in this format. Take note that Maxwell has 35 more innings than Yadav and 83 more than Sharma.
Not that we should let such little things obscure our perspective of an innings of such dazzling strength that the first handshake Suryakumar received after his fire was smothered was from Lizaad Williams, the bowler who had him caught on the backward square leg boundary. Several more South African players rushed to convey their congrats.
A multicolored crowd applauding Suryakumar carried him to the boundary and beyond; they had come to witness a cricket match, not to observe one team play. If Suryakumar had been a member of a foreign team competing in India during this year’s men’s one-day international World Cup, he probably would have retired to the apathetic silence of thousands donning blue shirts.
The genuine generosity of the Wanderers continued in that manner. Following the Indians’ 201/7 score, the thousands of spectators remained to witness South Africa be bundled out for 95. Mohammed Siraj completed the first over with three runs after commencing it with two errors. South Africa trailed 8/53 after being 42/3 during the powerplay; Kuldeep Yadav squandered the light exceptionally well for a career-high 5/17.
Although Johannesburg residents rarely exhibit fairness, they possess the ability to identify victors at a glance. Furthermore, they are well-adept at receiving their due recognition, as numerous grass banks and columns of stands collapsed in support of a team that inflicted the third-heaviest defeat on South Africa in the 169 decided matches of the format.
The quick and accurate conditions that were swinging and seaming were to the delight of India’s batsmen and bowlers. On this ostensibly non-Indian turf, the Indians have achieved their greatest success in all formats in this nation: six victories and five defeats. India has not suffered a loss in excess of victories at any other venue in South Africa.
Undoubtedly, they will be disheartened to learn that neither of the Tests will be contested at the Wanderers, where they will eagerly anticipate their return on Sunday to commence the ODI series. India would then possess the heavens. Nothing more could be desired.
