IPL 2020 | Having Suryakumar and Ishan helps us control the middle-overs while batting, states Mahela Jayawardene

In Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, Mumbai Indians have one of the most impressive uncapped Indian middle-order talents, with a unique left-right batting combination. On top of that, Kishan’s ability to double-up as an opening batsman ultimately helped the franchise to fill the gap after a hamstring injury to Rohit Sharma. Suryakumar, on the other hand, batting at No.3, scored 480 runs at an average of 40, showcasing a plethora of batting in his arsenal to help the franchise time and again.

Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene, following their fifth IPL title win, stated that having the duo of Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan in the middle-order ultimately helped them control the middle-overs while batting, which was previously one of their weaker points. In specific, the Sri Lankan credited their ability to play spin and rotate the strike well before adding that Suryakumar’s ability to find gaps and score boundaries was important for their tempo. 

“Ya, it’s massive, the way we pick the team is that we have two slots where we can fit in Indian batsman, who can control and we picked them for Indian conditions, playing spin well and rotating strike too. Surya and Ishan does that really really well, we have had them for three years now, they have developed heaps and bounds,” Jayawardene told Sky Sports.

“Surya is a classic case, batting at No.3, he has got a really good tempo and he hits more boundaries than others in the competition that means he is hitting a lot of gaps. Ishan is opposite, he hits more sixes, to get those two in the middle-order allows us to control the game in middle-overs, with Hardik walking in next,” he added. 

Another important aspect that Mumbai looked at prior to the Auctions was to fill the gap in their bowling attack, especially in the powerplay overs, where they struggled to pick wickets earlier, which is why they traded Trent Boult. He also added in the absence of much time and facilities to set up camps to do their scouting, the franchise would be looking at the trading windows to boost their squad, in an attempt to stay ahead in the IPL race. 

“Usually we have time to do our camps and go through the scouting and find a few new talented players and look for areas to improve our squad. We are still not sure if it’s going to be a big auction or a small auction. Either way, we are in touch with all of them constantly, we will get two or three trading windows and look to boost our squad. Every year you need to develop, in the sense that you need to be different and have options available.”