Suryakumar Yadav, the Mumbai Indians’ star batter, has provided an update on his fitness following his impressive performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. After recovering from ankle surgery earlier this year, Yadav made a comeback in the Delhi Capitals game.
Yadav, who had a sports hernia and an ankle that required surgery, was ruled out of India’s penultimate T20I bilateral series before the World Cup in June, a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan at home.
Speaking during the mid-innings interview after playing a crucial role in Mumbai Indians’ victory over Punjab Kings, Yadav said, “It is going really well. I am almost there. I have started fielding. I am also training well. So slow and steady, hoping that all 40 overs I will be on the ground.”
Since his return, Yadav has registered a duck, fifty, then another duck, followed by another half-century. “That teaches you there are ups and downs in life,” Yadav said while talking about his performance.
Instead of taking the usual slam-bang approach, Yadav took his time and opened his arms. The explosive right-handed batter discussed his strategy and whether the management had given him any specific instructions.
“Nothing as much there was a talk going on. Last day we had a batters meeting that there will be a batter who will have to bat at least 15 to 17 overs because when we had a net session we felt that wicket will be a little difficult to get big runs on the board. But I just wanted to be myself. I took a little bit of more time today and after Rohit got out there had to be a batter who batted a little more. I just continued the way I bat,” Yadav said.
Jasprit Bumrah (3/21) and Coetzee’s (3/32) influential spells, along with a scintillating 78-run knock from Yadav, helped the Mumbai Indians defeat the Punjab Kings by nine runs.
