20 March,2025 07:38 AM IST | Mumbai | Subodh Mayure
MI’s Suryakumar Yadav during a practice session recently. Pic/Mumbai Indians
Though T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav has been struggling for runs recently, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya has backed him. Pandya called Suryakumar a match-winner and said the attacking batter is a live wire in the MI dressing room.
"He [Suryakumar] has scored a lot of runs for a lot of years. I am not really concerned about his form or anything. He has been a match-winner for India and Mumbai Indians, and he always brings energy to the team," Pandya said during MI's pre-season press conference for IPL-18 at a city hotel on Wednesday.
In 150 IPL games, Suryakumar, 34, has scored 3594 runs, which include a couple of hundreds and 24 half-centuries. While representing the country in 83 matches, the India T20I skipper has scored 2598 runs with four centuries and 21 fifties.
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However, he had a disappointing five-match T20I series at home against England in January and February, where he scored zero, 12, 14, zero and two.
In his previous two red-ball games in the Ranji Trophy, Suryakumar scored nine and 70 against Haryana in the quarter-final and managed zero and 23 versus eventual champions Vidarbha in the semi-final last month.
Five-time champions MI, who finished in 10th position after winning only four games last year, will start this season against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on March 23.
Apart from Pandya, there are three other India captains in MI's core group - Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar and Jasprit Bumrah (yet to recover from a back injury) - and Pandya has admitted that he will use their experience in crunch situations. "I am lucky to have three captains playing with me. It adds more and more experience for me. I know when I require help, there are three different minds, who have led India in different formats and with so many years of experience, who are always there to put their arm around my shoulder and be there for me," Pandya said.
When asked about MI's bowling plans as experienced New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult is back in the side, he said: "The plan is very clear - you get a lot of experience in, because Wankhede [Stadium pitch] can be sometimes very unforgiving to the bowlers, the kind of track which we play on. So, it was very, very important to bring in experience - from Mitch [Santner] to Trent.
"Trent was very, very important for us. Deepak [Chahar], all our experienced individuals, Boom [Bumrah], myself, Mujeeb [Ur Rahman], all of the youngsters who have played a lot of cricket. That was very important - to bring a lot of experience - so, when the tough time comes, they have felt the pressure earlier. If you see our bowling pick, that's very evident."
MI will play their first home game against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on March 31 and Pandya wants MI fans to support them loudly. "Iss baar koi aur colour nahi dikhna chahiye [No other colour should be seen this year]. Just make noise. When I come out to bat, bowl, at the toss, just make noise," Pandya remarked.
