Suryakumar Yadav has been finding it hard to land himself the opportunity to play in Indians colours after he was ignored for selection by BCCI for upcoming India's tour of Australia.
However, that didn't deter his confidence and his hunger for runs was evident when he bailed his side out of trouble to an eventual five-wicket win over RCB with a 45-ball 79. Asked to chase 165. the in-form batsman stayed at the crease till the end and took a good measure of the RCB bowlers despite MI being reduced to 72/3 in the 11th over.
His approach towards batting has certainly changed from previous IPLs, where he normally played the finisher role down the order instead of staying at the crease longer by slowly building the innings; as done on Wednesday night.
The batsman revealed the change came after MI skipper Rohit Sharma and team management sat with him before the beginning of the season, asking him to shoulder more responsibility up the order.
"The team management and Rohit told me before the start of the tournament that you have played enough to take the game deep. I am glad I have been able to do it," said Suryakumar at the post-match presentation ceremony after collecting Man of the Match award.
The batsman has also improved his all-round batting ability by spewing shots all over the field; shading the tag of leg-side player. Yadav said he worked hard on his game during the COVID-19 lockdown and glad to see it bear fruit.
"I have worked on my game during the lockdown. I used to love playing on the on-side before. Pleased to have finished the game," he said.
