IPL 2020 | Happy to be taking matches deep and finishing them, expresses Suryakumar Yadav

The Indian selectors named the squads for the tour of Australia on Monday and once the list was released, there was only one question posed by everyone, unanimously: “Where is Suryakumar Yadav?”. The omission of the 30-year-old, who has been the best No.3 of IPL 2020, came as a shock, but on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi against the side of the Indian skipper, SKY sent out the perfect response to the selectors.

Chasing 165, Surya, walking in at 37/1 in the 6th, dismantled the RCB attack with surgical precision and showed Kohli exactly what his side would be missing in a month’s time. What was impressive about SKY’s knock was that aside from putting the side in a position of strength, the right-hander ensured that he stayed till the very end and finished the job off.

Speaking post-match, SKY, named Man of the Match for his efforts, revealed that he’s been wanting to finish games for a while and claimed that both Rohit and the management, prior to the season, had requested him to bat deep more often.

“I was looking to finish the game. I was looking to learn what my game is. Happy to have finished it. Lot of meditation has helped. Pleased to have finished the game. The team management and Rohit told me before the start of the tournament that you have played enough to take the game deep. I am glad I have been able to do it,” Surya said in the post-match presentation.

In the knock that featured 10 fours and 3 sixes, Suryakumar exploited both sides off the field equally and left Bangalore begging for answers. The 30-year-old revealed that he had been consciously working on his off-side game during the lockdown and described the shots against Chahal and Steyn as his favourites from the day.

“I have worked on my game during the lockdown. I used to love playing on the on-side before. One over cover to Chahal and the back foot punch off Steyn were my favorites.”