Suryakumar Yadav was involved in a stare-off against RCB captain Virat Kohli.
India's batter Suryakumar Yadav recalled the disappointment of not making it to the Australia tour last year. Suryakumar's absence from the limited-overs squad for the Australia tour was criticized due to his consistency with the bat.
Suryakumar had scored a match-winning unbeaten 79 off just 43 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after being ignored by national selectors and he was also involved in a stare-off against Virat Kohli.
The Mumbai Indians (MI) batter did a gesture after hitting the winning runs which felt like he is assuring his teammates, "I am here, don't worry." He has opened up on his knock against RCB and the celebration in a chat with Vikram Sathaye on Sportskeeda.
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"My family says it is one of the best knocks I have played in the recent past. During the tournament, everyone was telling me - ‘yes, you are scoring runs; you are contributing in every game, but we want to see you finish a game'," he said.
"Almost half the IPL was over before that match (against RCB) happened. I still remember, the Indian team (for the tour of Australia) was going to be announced. I had a good IPL 2019 and 2020 season, and I scored runs in domestic cricket as well," he added.
The 31-year-old was expecting a call-up to the national side after being in a good form with the bat. But not finding his name in the squad for the Australia tour had hurt him.
"I expected that I would get a call. It was not an arrogant thought like ‘yes, I am going to get a call’. But, back of the mind, there was this hope that the long wait would end.
"When I saw the squad, and my name was not in it, I was a little disappointed. From my side, I was trying to do everything. I took my wife to the beach for walks, and missed a few practice sessions, as I was thinking about that (not being selected) only," he said.
It was a chat with MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene and Zaheer Khan which helped Suryakumar after being 'lost and disappointed'. "One day, Mahela (Jayawardene) and Zak (Zaheer Khan) came up to me and said that this was the perfect opportunity to prove myself as it was MI vs RCB. I said, ok, but back of the mind, I was lost and disappointed. I didn’t know what was happening even as the trainers and captain were speaking to me," he said.
Speaking on his celebration, the Mumbai batter said it was not planned and happened instinctively after he had a glance at the team dressing room. "We fielded first and were set a tough target of 165. My batting came in the 6th over. I told myself this is the perfect platform to prove my worth. At the first time-out, my thought was that if I can remain not out, and take the team to victory, all the boxes will be ticked properly," he said.
Suryakumar further added, "I started slowly, but then, gradually, I started taking on (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Dale Steyn. After the game, when I won the match for the team, I glanced at the dressing room and where my family was sitting. It all happened instinctively. I had not planned anything. Everything happened according to what was happening over there.”
(With Sportskeeda Inputs)