Flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav's cricket spectrum

If you see Suryakumar Yadav bat, you can guess what sort of person he is. And if you happen to see his car first, you will know he bats.

That's how Kolkata Knight Rider's latest sensation Suryakumar Yadav is. And talking about his car, the Toyota Fortuner, reflects an unusual pale yellow colour. It was white when he bought it, changed it to carbon black then bright red before settling for a mellower shade. He has even experimented with his hair. Streaking it red, then blonde and now sports natural black.

The Mumbai player also owns a Harley Davidson bike and a custom-made jeep — Mahindra Thar. There is one word for such cricketers — flamboyant or in local parlance — bindaas.

To sum up everything he lives his life to the fullest and is passionate about the game.

Suryakumar's breathtaking and match-winning – 20-ball 46 with five sixes – against Mumbai Indians that overshadowed Rohit Sharma's classy 98 on Wednesday at the Eden Gardens surprised many.

Such has been the impact of his knock that he was seen trending on Twitter and was being referred to as the Indian AB de Villiers.

"Surya loves his life. He lives fearlessly and doesn't worry about what anyone has to say about him," said his Mumbai teammate from the U-15 days, Javed Khan. "And that's how he plays his game too."

Khan said he realised Suryakumar is a special player during a junior level game. "We have been playing together from U-15 days. We were once playing a local tournament — Ghosh Trophy — where Surya scored a 40-ball 109. That day we realised he is a different player."

"During the U-17 final, Punjab scored 300-350. Surya scored 200 plus taking us to an easy win," he added.

The flashy cars and bikes are all recent acquisitions, Suryakumar comes from middle-class background. Born to Ashok Kumar Yadav, an electrical engineer, from Ghazipur UP, who came to Mumbai in 1989 to join the Atomic Energy department of the Babha Atomic Reserach Centre. In 1990, Suryakumar was born.

"At the age of 10, I saw his inclination towards the game. Then I made him join a cricket camp in our BARC colony in Chembur. At 12, his coach HS Kamath told me Surya has the talent to play atleast at the Ranji Trophy level, so we thought we should support him. Then he went to Elf Vengsarkar Academy where he was guided by Dilip Vengsarkar. He went on to play all the age group tournament of Mumbai," says Yadav Sr.

Yadav said his son is passionate about cricket. "He so passionate that once he was ruled out of a Champions League T20 game for Mumbai Indians due to a finger injury, but he played a local U-22 tournament, where he scored a century.

"He cannot live without cricket," he said.

Yadav said that his son could have excelled in academics too, "He was intelligent. When he was in Class 10th, he scored 70 per cent without really putting in much effort. It is a different matter that I had to take a month's leave to teach him. He is also a very good badminton player. If not a cricketer, he would have made a name in in badminton."

There is almost a symbiotic relationship between flamboyance and temperament. They seem to co-exist and its true in Suryakumar's case. Apart from his whirlwind batting, in Mumbai's cricketing circles, his behavious is also talked about. He was recently served a show cause notice by the Mumbai Cricket Association for getting into a tiff with a player.

Yadav said, "He is someone who talks straight. He doesn't worry what others would think. Yes, he was sad about the whole issue but then he apologised. He is learning to control his anger and temperament.

Suryakumar also gave up the Mumbai captaincy for reasons that have not been disclosed. Yadav said, "As far as captaincy is concerned, on the day when he resigned, Surya called me saying that as a captain he wants to take moral responsibility and step down due to his team's losses. He said he would also like to concentrate on his batting."

Suryakumar's U-22 coach Vilas Godbole agreed that his ward has to sort out some issues. "He is very aggressive and that is good for his batting. But he has to focus on his game. He should keep his temperament in check. Cricketing wise, I regard him very highly," he said.

Suryakumar's father has been getting calls from well-wishers congratulating him for his son's knock on Wednesday night. "However, his mother was sleeping. She later scolded us because we did not wake her up. She loves it that her son plays at a higher level, but is only keen to know what he did, whether his team won," he said.

"Whatever may be the case, this is just the start. I wish he does well more and goes on to play for India."