SURYAKUMAR YADAV FINALLY OPENS UP ON NOT BEING SELECTED FOR TEAM INDIA IN AUSTRALIA TOUR 

The much talked about Mumbai Indians' (MI) skipper Suryakumar Yadav recently opened up in an exclusive interview, where he spoke about disappointments, his banter with Team India captain Virat Kohli and how Rohit Sharma helped MI to win a string of IPL titles.  

Looking into his chartboard, Suryakumar Yadav became the first uncapped player to score 2,000 runs in IPL. Despite performing well in the 13th season of IPL, Yadav could not make his place in the Indian Team for Australia series. 

During the interview, Suryakumar was asked how he would describe IPL 2020, to which he responded saying; "It was a good season for me. Ahead of the season, I had set some goals and I am happy that I could contribute for the team. I wanted to deliver when (the) chips were down and fortunately everything panned out well. During the preparations, we as a team made a slogan, “creating history”, and wanted to win the title in 2020 which is an even year. Mumbai Indians have never won in an even-numbered year. So, I have to say IPL 13 gave us reasons to be the happiest."

Further talking about MI's consistency and the dressing room atmosphere, the MI skipper said; "Mumbai Indians have some amazing former players like Zaheer Khan, Mahela Jayawardene and Shane Bond in the support staff. They are the backbone of this well-oiled team. These guys always tell players to keep it simple. They want everybody to play with freedom and, in the process, the players play to their potential. This is very crucial. This makes everybody perform consistently. Coach Jayawardene is a calm guy who knows what he wants from each player. The dressing room atmosphere is chilled out with Hardik (Pandya), Krunal (Pandya), Ishan (Kishan) being in their element. Plus Rohit Sharma’s leadership is fantastic."

Talking about his favourite innings of the season and the reason attached to it, Suryakumar said "It has to be my innings of 79 runs (in 43 balls) against Royal Bangalore Challengers (RCB). We were chasing 165. The opponents were coming at us hard and it was amazing to score freely and set up the win. I wanted to prove myself after not finding a place in the Australia-bound team. I also liked my innings of 79 runs (in 47 balls) against Rajasthan Royals. Although I love chasing, I enjoyed batting against a good bowling line-up. Chasing a target pumps me up. I like playing my shots and dominate during the chase."

Not to forget, Suryakumar also highlighted the banter between him and Virat Kohli in the RCB game. Finally breaking the silence over the matter, the MI skipper stated that "It was all very instinctive. Virat Kohli is a huge cricketing figure and he plays the game very aggressively. It was an important game for both teams and whatever happened, it did during the game. After the game, we laughed about it and he congratulated me on my batting. Virat’s brand of cricket is top class and the way he dominates world cricket is just amazing. I too look up to him. In the end it was great to win the game."

Finally coming on the much talked about question whether he was expecting a call-up to the Indian team for the Australia tour.

Suryakumar replied saying, "Frankly, I was expecting to be selected this time. I was a bit disappointed when I found my name missing. I couldn’t even train that day and it was difficult to take my mind off from that dejection. Even Rohit (Sharma) asked me if I was disappointed and I told him I was. But never mind. I will wait for my chances. There is a lot of time to show my cricket abilities and make my case stronger for a national call-up. I hope I can score big in domestic games and then do well in the next IPL to catch the attention of the selectors."

"The selection is not in my hand. So, I don’t think much….Even Sachin Tendulkar “paaji” sent me a message asking me to continue scoring runs and I would like to use the chances and do well… I will try my best to be in contention for the World T20 team," he added.

Finally talking about Rohit Sharma as a captain and his  rapport with him, Suryakumar asserted that "Rohit “bhai” is a fantastic captain who puts the team first before his own self. He has led MI to five titles due to his fine captaincy and top-class batting. He took over as a captain in 2013 and left his opening slot for me. It was incredible of him to do so. I enjoy so much when I am batting alongside him."