Suryakumar Yadav was under the pump until Thursday when he guided Mumbai Indians (MI) to a scintillating win against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an IPL 2024 clash at the Wankhede Stadium. After Jasprit Bumrah’s magic with the ball, the duo of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners as MI chased down 197 with 27 balls to spare.
The MI openers – Ishan and Rohit – led a blistering start to the chase, stitching a 101-run stand. Once both were back in the hut, it was Suryakumar whose 19-ball 52 paved way for Mumbai’s second consecutive win this season.
SKY hammered four sixes and five fours during his knock which took the game away victory from Bengaluru. It was a much-needed innings for the star batter who returned after an injury layoff and began his IPL 2024 journey with a duck.
Speaking about his knock after MI’s clinical win, Surya said though he wasn’t physically present in the MI camp but mentally, he was at the Wankhede.
“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 said.
“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.
“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,” he added.
Heaping praise on Ishan’s knock, Surya said, “The management told him (Ishan) to go out and enjoy, he has worked really hard on his batting and is just enjoying the fruits now.”
