Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) can be proud of themselves. They made Vaibhav Sooryavanshi score T20 runs off a shot for the first time on TV. The said shot is the ramp. In all the matches that ESPNcricinfo has ball-by-ball data for, this was the first time Sooryavanshi felt the need to use the bowler's pace and offer the bat like a slope for the ball to bounce over the keeper's head.
Okay, he did try it once last year as well but failed to connect. And there might be a quibble or two about where the uppercut ends and the ramp starts. One's uppercut could be another's ramp. So we included the uppercut as well. We also added the scoop just for kicks.
Put together, Sooryavanshi has played only nine ramps, uppercuts and scoops. This was the first time he played more than two in an innings.
The first one was a critical uppercut off Mayank Yadav over short third. It was his first boundary after being on 1 off 5 balls. This was perhaps the first time he had chosen discretion. He showed possible respect to Mohsin Khan, who had bowled a wicket-maiden to him in the reverse fixture. The first time he faced Mohsin now, he ducked. Possibly premeditatedly.
To add to that, Mayank kind of hurried Sooryavanshi early on. He did bowl at least four balls above 150kph in his first two overs to go with the initially effective slower ones.
Sooryavanshi was 11 off 12 when he played the ramp off the other Yadav in the LSG attack: Prince. This was almost an afterthought. He was swaying out of the line, the ball was almost past him, and he decided to provide the ramp for it to fly over the keeper's head.
Not that there is anything that is not astonishing about Sooryavanshi's batting, but it is worth saying that it is astonishing that he has terrorised the best of the attacks without playing a shot that is so critical to T20 success. A shot that dissuades bowlers from bowling the bouncer. This was only the second T20 innings in which he scored more than 15 runs behind square on the off side. Ten of those in his first 17 runs.
So credit to Mohsin, Mayank and Prince that they made Sooryavanshi evaluate his options. That consolation is all they get, though. Sooryavanshi decided to ride that period. Yashasvi Jaiswal proved to be of great assistance as he took down Mohsin's second over, but Sooryavanshi served a reminder that to go with his genius, the 15-year-old also has the wherewithal to pick and choose his battles.
Sooryavanshi was the Impact Player and took the field only in the 19th over of the LSG innings. He had time to watch and think. The way he said in his post-match interview that he felt he could give himself some time because he knows he can hit two-three sixes in an over any time must send chills down the bowlers' spines.
As did some of the shots he unfurled after riding this period. Not least the extra-cover drive off Mayank's high pace with his weight on the back foot. He is now leading not only the runs chart this year, but also the strike rate, having scored 579 runs at 236.32.
Here's to Rajasthan Royals now making the playoffs so that we can watch as much of Sooryavanshi as possible. Here's to bowlers pushing him out of his comfort zone so we can find more about his problem-solving skills.