Suryakumar Yadav has been in phenomenal form of late in white-ball cricket. Suryakumar turned out to be India's trump card in the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia and left bowlers clueless with his unique strokeplay and ability to find gaps in unusual way. His unorthodox strokeplay also led to comparison with South African legend AB de Villiers. On the other end, Virat Kohli was often seen gasping and in awe of Suryakumar’s shots.
“Once I was batting with Virat (Kohli) bhai, and he came and told me “tu video game khel raha hai kya? Alag chal raha hai tera bhi (Are you playing video games? You are at a different level).” It felt nice to hear these things,” Suryakumar told Indian Express when asked about reactions to his shots from teammates.
Suryakumar revealed that skipper Rohit Sharma did not have any advice for Suryakumar and just wanted him to approach the game in his own way.
“Rohit (Sharma) is the only one who has seen me for a very long time. But this season, he saw so many knocks that a time came when he didn’t tell me anything. In a few games, he said “mujhe ab kuchh bolna nahi abhi tere baare mein (Now I don’t have anything to say about you)” Suryakumar recalled.
The fiery T20I batter unsettled bowlers length with his shots square of the wicket. Even having fielders in exact positions did not help them as Suryakumar toyed with captain and bowler’s mind with his ability to play the same ball in two different directions.
The 32-year-old credited his experienced at Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) for his success at international level. He also revealed that he had a chat with head coach Rahul Dravid when he took the top job.
“I spoke to Rahul (Dravid) bhai too. When he saw my innings like these, he came and told me that the position at which I bat, I can go and change the game. When he became India coach, I went and told him once that when the match is between the 7-14 over stage, please send me out to bat. I have batted in that situation plenty of times for Mumbai Indians. I know how to score runs in that particular situation. My mind was clear and I just went and told him. He agreed and told me to express myself whenever I go out to bat,” the explosive batter said.
