Suryakumar Yadav was at his breathtaking best in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (April 11).
Batting at No. 3, the dashing right-hander slammed 52 off 19 balls as MI chased down RCB’s stiff target of 197 without breaking a sweat in 15.3 overs. His knock was studded with 5 fours and 4 sixes.
This was Suryakumar's second game after a long lay-off due to an injury sustained during the South Africa tour in December 2023.
Speaking to the official broadcaster, Suryakumar Yadav joked that he had never left when about his return to form after a duck in the previous game against Delhi Capitals.
Suryakumar said that he was mentally in the MI camp even when he was undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Benagluru.
“It's always good to be back at Wankhede, when the tournament started I was mentally here only, although physically in Bangalore (recovering from the injury), it felt like I never left,” Suryakumar stated.
He also lauded the duo of Rohit Sharma (38 off 24) and Ishan Kishan (69 off 34), who added 101 runs for the opening wicket to set the tone for the chase.
“When you are chasing 200, it is important to know the dew factor and take your chances, both Rohit and Ishan did the job for us at the 10th over mark and we only knew that we had to finish early for that net run rate thing,” Surya added.
Asked about his 360-degree shots, Suryakumar Yadav reiterated that he practices methodically and tries to figure out his angles during the games.
“I just try to play to the field and practice these shots and it is just muscle memory (talking about his freak shots) and I go out there and enjoy myself. The slice over point is the one that I enjoyed the most. The management told him (Ishan Kishan) to go out and enjoy, he has worked really hard on his batting and is just enjoying the fruits now,” he remarked.
Surya was full of praise for MI’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who picked up a five-wicket haul (5-21) against RCB and earned the Player-of-the-Match award.
“It's been almost 2-3 years since I batted against him (Bumrah) in the nets, because he either breaks my bat or breaks my foot,” he concluded.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
