Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Suryakumar Yadav said that his hug to Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was ‘sweet banter’ and depicted the camaraderie between the two. This came during MI’s first win of the IPL 2022 as they defeated RR by 5 wickets on April 30 in DY Patil Stadium.
Chahal was not happy when Suryakumar Yadav got away with an LBW call. In the last ball of the 8th over, Chahal used a DRS referral after the on-field umpire didn’t give Yadav out LBW.
Replays were showing that the ball was just clipping the bails, but with the on-field decision being not out, it stood and Suryakumar Yadav survived, much to the chagrin of Chahal. Yadav was looking in good form, having already smashed five fours. After surviving the scare, he went on to score 51 off 39 balls.
“During the game, I didn’t tell him anything and it was just a sweet banter between him and me, but I'm really happy that I got away with the umpire’s call and the way things went after that. He is a great bowler and I’ve enjoyed having that fight between him and me in the middle,” Yadav said in the post-match press conference.
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Suryakumar was promoted to the no.3 spot and won the Player of the Match award for his match-winning fifty. Yadav said that the victory was much-needed and would help the players gain confidence.
“The win will spread a lot of positivity. We were already enjoying each other’s company during practice sessions and team dinners. This win will help each and everyone learn going forward in the season,” he said.
He was also praiseful of young Tilak Varma, who is the highest run-getter for MI in IPL 2022 with 307 runs at an average of 43.85 and a strike rate of 137.05 in 9 matches.
“Tilak is a fantastic player, he works hard in the nets and he wants to learn. It’s good to see someone like him and I’m very happy and excited to see him whenever he does well and whenever he comes into practice sessions and does all his routines and processes,” Yadav added.
(India Today inputs)
