Suryakumar Yadav
A couple of days after national snub, Suryakumar Yadav pulled out a whirlwind knock to steer Mumbai Indians (MI) past the finishing line against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Suryakumar hammered 79 off 43 balls to single-handedly guide MI to the victory in Match 48 of the recently-concluded IPL 2020.
Surya's match-defining knock was all over the internet, especially because it came when he was overlooked yet again by national selectors. Many cricket experts and fans believed that the right-hander deserved a spot in India's squads for the much-awaited Australia tour, starting with the first ODI at Sydney on November 27.
Suryakumar has been delivering consistently in the IPL and domestic circuit, making him a prime candidate to receive a maiden national call-up. However, to his disappointment, Surya wasn't among the players who boarded the flight to Australia.
Reacting to the national snub, 'disappointed' Suryakumar has revealed that he himself was expecting to be selected this time. Surya finished IPL 2020 with 480 runs and bagged the seventh spot in the list of highest run-scorers of the season.
"Frankly, I was expecting to be selected this time. I was a bit disappointed when I found my name missing. I couldn’t even train that day and it was difficult to take my mind off from that dejection. Even Rohit (Sharma) asked me if I was disappointed and I told him I was.
But never mind. I will wait for my chances. There is a lot of time to show my cricket abilities and make my case stronger for a national call-up. I hope I can score big in domestic games and then do well in the next IPL to catch the attention of the selectors," Suryakumar told Hindustan Times.
The 30-year-old revealed that legendary India batsman Sachin Tendulkar also sent him a message, asking him to keep scoring runs to ultimately break into the national set-up. Suryakumar is optimistic about finding himself in India's T20 World Cup squad.
"The selection is not in my hand. So, I don’t think much….Even Sachin Tendulkar “paaji” sent me a message asking me to continue scoring runs and I would like to use the chances and do well… I will try my best to be in contention for the World T20 team," he further said.
