Suryakumar Yadav rises, shines bright
Suryakumar Yadav was at his belligerent best, unleashing a series of sumptuous strokes. Kevin D’Souza Suryakumar Yadav was at his belligerent best, unleashing a series of sumptuous strokes. Kevin D’Souza
CHANDRAKANT Pandit, Mumbai’s coach, wasn’t worried but had to think hard about who should be batting at No. 3 in the crucial semi-final game. The morning had carried unpleasant news that their aggressive batsman and the original inhabitant at the vital spot, Shreyas Iyer was suffering from food poisoning, and had to be rushed to hospital.
Pandit was having a chat with the captain Aditya Tare when Suryakumar Yadav came up to them and asked whether he could bat at No. 3 slot. Iyer had cemented his place in the side as specialist one-down batsman but Yadav knew it was a chance worth taking. Especially, to prove that he can be the man who can take any challenges for his team.
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Yadav chose to go in with a counter-attacking plan rather than walk in with a defensive mindset. It was a delightful innings to watch as he proved you could be aggressive with a straight-bat approach. It hadn’t always come naturally to him. Yadav revealed how it took two seasons to get used to play those traditional strokes. The IPL t20 batting mode had affected his technique but he was aware that in the longer format traditional batsmanship was needed to survive and thrive.
“I had the habit of playing middle-stump ball to mid-wicket or try to flick it. I used to play reverse shot earlier but it took two years to get rid of it as I felt that playing straight will give me more runs and it’s less risky. In earlier matches, I was batting at number four and hence I wanted to stay there longer for the team. But today, I went out to bat in Iyer’s position and looked to take up his role of scoring runs, which is important in knock out games,” Yadav said.
When Yadav came to bat, he looked different. He slammed two straight driven boundaries off Aswin Crist and later repeated the dose against the medium-pacer T Natrajan. When the pacer tried to pull him shot, he pulled one for a six. Mumbai scored with an average of four till he batted and it looked the defending champions will have a easy day out.
However, there is a bit of setback to happen after Yadav nicked one behind to Kartik off Vijay Shankar. It was around that time that R Ashwin, India’s premier spinner, tweeted about the state of affairs at the game.
“Seam is sitting up when Vijay Shankar is bowling and things are happening.” From 125 for 2, Mumbai lost two more wickets in span of three runs. Praful Waghela was run out while trying to take a quick single whereas Siddhesh Lad went for a drive off the left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas but Abhinav Mukund took a low catch at short cover.
Mumbai who were dominating till then were taken aback and the next eight overs saw only ten runs being added on the board. Shreyas Iyer came out to bat and it was more of a cautious knock than his usual attacking one. He along with Tare ensured Mumbai didn’t lose out another wicket and at stumps they had reached 171 for 4.
Earlier, Mumbai had bundled out Tamil Nadu for 305 after they resumed at 261 for 6.
Overnight batsman Shankar went on to score fifty (overnight batting 41). Medium-pacer Shardul Thakur finished with four wicket haul on a batting track and he was supported by Abhishek Nayar, who too finished with four-wicket haul.
Mumbai chase started with a new opener — the 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw. He hit a fine drive but got out trying to chase Aswin Crist’s ball only to get an edge behind to wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik.
A lot will depend on Iyer and Tare – a substantial partnership can get Mumbai ahead in the game.
Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 305 (Indrajith 64, Gandhi 50, Vijay Shankar 50; Nayar 4/66, Thakur 4/75) vs Mumbai 171/4 (Suryakumar Yadav 73, Waghela 48).