Suryakumar Yadav Finds Form and Pushes Mumbai as He Stood as Their Only Hope with the Bat

Before coming into the IPL, Suryakumar Yadav was in terrible form. He made his Test debut, played a few ODIs, and all of a sudden his rhythm was gone. The SKY Touch was missing as he came into the IPL on the back of three consecutive ducks. A couple of months later though, Suryakumar Yadav was all that stood between the Gujarat Titans and a spot in the IPL Finals. With his magic, despite things going as bad as they could for the Mumbai Indians last night, Suryakumar Yadav kept Mumbai’s engine running.

Last night was not the first time though this season where Suryakumar Yadav gave Mumbai hope. Five games into the season, he was out and done. The runs were not flowing as they normally would, and this collided with a string of losses for the Mumbai Indians. Rohit Sharma was out of form as well, and Ishan Kishan could not convert his starts.

Surya struggled through the first four games, but once he managed to spend some time out in the middle against the Kolkata Knight Riders he was back at it. He took the bowlers on in that game, found form, and also started Mumbai’s rise in the points table. After that win, it was all Suryakumar Yadav. He found his range and all of a sudden the Mumbai Indians were putting up and chasing 200+ totals for fun.

His form probably peaked against Bangalore and Gujarat in the middle of the season. Against Bangalore, in a crucial game with the traffic in the middle of the points table, Suryakumar Yadav made a chase of 200+ look ridiculously easy. He followed it with one of the best centuries in the tournament against the Gujarat Titans, taking on the best bowling attack in the tournament with some outrageous shots.

With Surya in form, the rest of the batting line-up was able to fall in place. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan’s starts were all of a sudden looking very good, and the likes of Cameron Green, Nehal Wadhera, Tilak Varma, and Tim David had a batter to attack around, making life very difficult for bowling sides. Coming into the playoffs, the pressure was on though. Mumbai’s bowling attack does not instill the most confidence, and the batting line-up still remains a worry with the top-order inconsistent.

Surya, along with Cameron Green, led the way against Lucknow as their quickfire knocks helped Mumbai get to 182 on a slowish Chennai track. Against the Gujarat Titans though the situation was a lot more troublesome. A daunting target of 234 was ahead of them. Ishan Kishan was concussed, Cameron Green got hit on his left forearm, and Mumbai lost Nehal Wadhera early after he was sent to open.

Tilak Varma though gave a glimmer of hope as he took on Mohammad Shami, but once he was gone it was all on Suryakumar Yadav and Cameron Green. Despite the events at the other end, Suryakumar Yadav stood tall and in the way of the Gujarat Titans. He opened his account with a boundary to state his intentions and was not hesitant to take on Rashid Khan as well, scoring two boundaries off him in the 10th over to keep Mumbai up with the run rate.

After Cameron Green got out though it was all on him. Suryakumar Yadav did not stop. He continued with his stroke play and kept Mumbai in the hunt as he alone kept Mumbai at par with the required rate. With 85 needed off 36 and with Tim David yet to come the game was on. Surya welcomed Mohit Sharma with a handsome six. The next delivery though left Surya heartbroken as he missed a scoop only to see his leg stump on the ground. He stood in disbelief, and walked off slowly, taking Mumbai’s hopes with him as a collapse followed after him.

His 61 may not seem like an extraordinary score, but the impact he had on the game was immense. He kept Mumbai believing as he remained out in the middle, as he did throughout the season. It wasn’t meant to be though, as a season which was revived by Suryakumar Yadav came to a crashing finish. He fought alone, and played some incredible innings through the season, but could not take his side to the Finals. Suryakumar Yadav though finished with his best tally this season, as he took Mumbai Indians to the playoffs when nobody gave them a chance, given their bowling and last season’s performance.