From shadows to spotlight: Muthusamy's rise powers Sunrisers EC to SA20 playoffs

For years Senuran Muthusamy has been content to sit in the shadows.

Initially at the Dolphins, and subsequently with the national team. But over the last period, Muthusamy, who is the ultimate team man and always putting the needs of others ahead of himself, has almost been pushed into the spotlight.

The allrounder was a revelation on the two subcontinent tours to Pakistan and India recently, contributing significantly to the Proteas’ Test side’s success. 

Player of the Series in Pakistan due to his significant feats with bat and ball, Muthusamy went on to score a maiden Test century to help the Proteas complete a historic 2-0 clean sweep in Guwahati.

It’s clear that Muthusamy’s confidence is at an all-time high, especially after he was honoured with the ICC Player of the Month award for October.

It has certainly been evident during Betway SA20 where Muthusamy has embraced the responsibility of being the premier spinner at the Sunrisers Eastern Cape. It was a big role to fill following the success of Roelof van der Merwe and Liam Dawson previously, but the left-arm spinner has stepped up to the plate at every opportunity. 

He bowled particularly beautifully against Joburg Super Kings at St George’s Park on Wednesday evening, utilising all the traditional elements of flight and drift to bamboozle the batters to finish with excellent figures of 3/24. 

Muthusamy almost had a fourth too but Jonny Bairstow could not hold on to a steepler off James Vince running back from short cover. 

In typical Muthusamy fashion, he spurned the personal acclaim, and credited his success to the Sunrisers’.

“I'm just grateful to contribute towards the team. I think it's been a fantastic few weeks. Spending time in this environment's been awesome,” he said.

“It's a great system that the guys have got that works here. A lot of the players I've played with before, so that's been fantastic and it's made it a lot easier to adjust. Yeah, it's been a great few weeks and we're looking forward to the business end of the competition.”

The 61-run victory over JSK booked Sunrisers’ playoffs berth - the first team to achieve this feat in Season 4 - and Muthusamy’s form certainly bodes well moving forward.

Equally, the two-times champions seem to have stumbled upon a spin partner in young James Coles to support Muthusamy. 

After initially trialling Sri Lankan mystery spinner Tharindu Ratnayake with mixed success, Coles made an immediate impact on his home debut for the Sunrisers. The 21-year-old Sussex allrounder struck 61 off 34 balls before claiming 2/34 from his four overs.

The spin duo were responsible for five of the first six JSK wickets to fall in the run chase. 

“Yeah, that was incredible. I think he's a young guy with immense potential. And I mean, like you say, he's just come in for his first game,” Muthusamy said.

“He's been sitting, watching a lot of cricket. So, I mean, to hit the ball like that, to put together in innings like that was incredible. And the way he bowled was phenomenal as well.

“I think it was a superb skill set. Yeah, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic performance.

“Overall, it was just great performance. The batters got some runs on the board and fantastic team effort to ball and field really well to close out that game.”