Since 2018, Suryakumar Yadav has scored over 300 runs in every IPL and it is safe to say that after Rohit Sharma, he has been the SKY man for Mumbai Indians. But, on the back of a dreadful international form this season, Suryakumar Yadav would have expected Mumbai Indians to change fortunes as well. Without Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya in the line-up, the onus is on skipper Rohit and Sky to carry forward this season.
Mumbai Indians were hit hard by a seven-wicket defeat in their season opener against the Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. After being beaten in his own den, skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that the seniors, including himself, need to move on. And when they arrived in Delhi looking for their first win after two losses, Rohit had to make up his mind – and he did.
Indian captain on Tuesday Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match no. 16 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. After giving his team a promising start, the MI skipper was dismissed for 65 by Mustafizur Rahman with the team needing 30 off 19 balls. The game went down to the last ball, but it was a 71-run partnership for the opening wicket between Rohit and Ishan Kishan that helped Cameron Green and Tim David chase down successfully.
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But for Sky, it was another forgettable day at the Kotla as he registered his fourth golden duck of 2023 – yes, believe it!
Suryakumar is going through that phase of his career when a player is talked about everywhere but not for positive reasons. The last few months have really been a test for him. The Australia ODI at home was a ghastly nightmare, where he bagged a hat-trick of golden ducks. And now, IPL is not getting any better.
15 against RCB, 1 against CSK and a golden duck against DC. Surya’s innings has been like this so far in the tournament. What is most surprising is that just weeks after receiving the ICC T20 Player of the Year award, things started going south for him.
On Tuesday, Surya tried to take his chance from the word go, flicking a short ball from Mukesh Kumar down the leg. Unfortunately he was caught by Kuldeep Yadav at deep fine leg.
Life can be tough in such circumstances but MI leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who played a key role in MI’s first win of the season, with 3/22 in his 4, replies to News18, says ‘Yeh to hota’ Is’ curiosity.
The pressure to perform at the right time is always there and veteran leg-spinner Chawla believes that making a comeback in the shortest format of the game, especially for a player like Surya, is just a matter of 10 balls.
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Expressing his disagreement about Surya’s form in the dressing room of Mumbai Indians, Chawla said, ‘Suryakumar’s form is not a matter of concern. Because it is a format where you just need 10 balls to find your rhythm. As soon as you hit four fours, you are in form.”
“And Surya getting out on the first ball, woh ho jaata hai (it happens). It’s just a matter of few feet, it could have been a four or a six. So, it’s common.
“But the kind of batsman Surya is, he is full of confidence. And it’s just a matter of 10 balls. Jahan lage three fours in 10 balls (as soon as he hits 3 fours in those 10 balls), Surya will be back as usual,” Chawla said.
Rohit leads from the front
For Rohit, it was his maiden half-century this season which got MI the first set on the points table. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla did not hesitate to praise Mumbai’s batting performance, making a special mention of the starts given by the openers.
Responding to News18 CricketNext’s question, Chawla said that the wicket was difficult to bat on but the unit put in a remarkable performance.
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“The track was not easy. We all thought 170 is as good as 190 on this wicket. But the way Rohit and Ishan chased down the target…it’s always important to use the new ball. So , I think around 70 runs in the first six overs is a very good start on a pitch like this. And that start set the pace for us,” Chawla said.
“Despite scoring 70 runs in the first six overs, the game went down to the last ball of the chase. So you can imagine how difficult the pitch was. All of them batted really well including Tilak.
The beauty of the DC vs MI clash was both the teams looking to open their account on the points tally and in the end, Mumbai did. Now, Rohit will return home to host Kolkata Knight Riders in their next encounter. On the other hand, DC will travel to Bengaluru to face RCB.
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