Asia Cup 2022 | My strokeplay has come from rubber ball cricket on hard cement, reveals Suryakumar Yadav

India beat Hong Kong by 40 runs on Wednesday and Suryakumar Yadav played a heroic role for the team. He scored unbeaten 68 runs from 26 balls and his knock was laced with six fours and six sixes. The right-handed batter displayed his diverse range of shots with a strike rate of 261.54. Speaking about his innings, Suryakumar credited rubber-ball cricket for his shot-making. 

“I used to practice those strokes before, when I used to play with my friends. We used to play a lot of rubber ball cricket on hard cement. It all has come from there,” he said to the host broadcaster during the innings break.

India were on 94/2 when Suryakumar walked in to bat. He helped India post a target of 192/2 and orchestrated the win. The team then restricted the opposition to 152/5 with a collective effort from the bowling unit. Suryakumar revealed that the wicket was a bit sticky and they were aiming for a total of around 170-175. 

“Later on, when I was sitting inside and was having a chat with Rishabh (Pant) and Rohit (Sharma) bhai, I said the same thing. I told them that when I go in, I'll try and take the tempo a little higher and we can aim for around 170-175. But the way things were going, I just kept expressing myself and very happy with it,” he explained.