Suryakumar Yadav was not included in Indian cricket squads for the Australia tour, but that did not stop him from showing his class. It was his unbeaten 79 that almost ensured Mumbai Indians’ place to the playoffs by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Why no SKY in the Indian team?
Suryakumar Yadav, after yesterday’s innings took his tally of run to 362 runs in 12 IPL matches. It made Mumbai Indians fans happy and quite confident of making it to the top four, but overall, it raised a question over Indian squads chosen for the Australia tour starting next month. The common question that is being asked is that after such consistency in a T20 tournament, what made the selectors drop Yadav from the tour? Even many former and current players such as Harbhajan Singh, Manoj Tiwary, and Dilip Vengsarkar questioned the decision behind leaving the batsman out.
Eventually even Yadav’s stand-in captain Kieron Pollard spoke for him. “Deep down inside he must be very, very disappointed to not have donned the blue for India,” Pollard said after the match “He just keeps getting better. Again, as an individual, if you keep staying consistent, you will be rewarded. Nothing happens before its time. There is discussion around my batting position, I would love to be up there, taking the runs and hitting the runs, but we have to do what is the best for the team.”
Pollard applauds Yadav
Yadav has been a consistent performer for Mumbai Indians over the years. Even in this IPL, he has been phenomenal so far. Pollard applauded the efforts saying, “We lost a few wickets but Surya took us home. Imagine someone batting at that strike rate after two early wickets.”
He further opined, “I am big on match-ups in a way. I also watch a lot of cricket. I took a punt and bowled at AB. I could have waited for the last over but if someone has to go for runs, I thought I’d take it. Bumrah continues to keep standing up throughout the tournament. But again, we have been playing total team cricket. Somebody is always there to pick up the slack.”
