Suryakumar Yadav opened up about his 360-degree batting technique, his bond with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and called MI a 'pillar'.
Suryakumar Yadav has been nothing short of a sensation in the past 12 months, having reached the pinnacle of the sport, particularly in the shortest format. During the T20 World Cup 2022, Suryakumar became the world's top-ranked ICC T20 batsman and has continued to reign supreme since.
He also finished among the highest run scorers in the World Cup and will be key to India's chances of landing the ODI World Cup 2023 at home next year. In a recent interview with PTI, SKY revealed the secret behind his incredible 360-degree batting technique, and also shed light on his bond with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, while calling Mumbai Indians a 'pillar' in his life, with his wife Devisha Shetty the other pillar.
Fans have often compared Surya to AB de Villiers the original 'Mr 360', while many have hailed the 32-year-old for his incredible hitting all over the park, as witnessed in many matches in the year 2022 and before.
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Shedding light on how SKY developed his technique to play shots all over the park, he revealed that it has happened only because he played with the rubber ball earlier in his school and college days.
"It is an interesting story. In my school and college days, I played a lot of rubber ball cricket. On hard cement tracks and on rainy days, those would bowl would come from 15 yards and most of them chucked (threw) really hard," he told PTI.
"Now rubber ball from 15 yards will come at 140 plus clicks and if the leg side the boundary would be 95 yards, the off-side would be only 25-30 yards. So in order to prevent off-side boundaries, most of them would bowl into my body in order to prevent me from getting easy boundaries on off-side. So manoeuvring my wrists, playing those pick-up pulls and uppercuts have come from those matches," SKY added.
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When quizzed about his intent when it comes to the ODI format, given the ODI World Cup, Suryakumar Yadav said that he will not tweak his playing style.
"I don't like to think too much when I am playing any format. Because I enjoy this game, whenever I go into bat, I put up a show. What I always dream and visualise is that whenever I go in, I want to be the game-changer. I have always loved batting whether it is T20Is, ODIs or Ranji Trophy. If I can do what my team wants me to do in 40-50 balls, why should I bat 100 balls?" he stated.
The Mumbai-born batsman also highlighted that he feels 'lucky' to share the dressing room with the two legends of the sport - Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
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"I am actually very lucky that I share dressing room with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They are a different breed of international cricketers. Things they have achieved, I don't know I will be ever able to achieve that," said the swashbuckling right-hander.
He continued, "Recently, I have had some good partnerships with Virat bhai and I have enjoyed batting with him. Rohit is like an elder brother and my sounding board. When I am in doubt, I ask him direct questions about my game. He has been a good guiding force since I joined MI in 2018."
Lastly, SKY called his wife Devisha and MI, the two 'pillars' of his life.
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"In my life and in this cricketing journey, there are two pillars, Mumbai Indians and my wife Devisha," said Surya.
Having been rested for the Bangladesh tour, he played for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and the middle-order batsman will be eyeing a return to international cricket when Team India welcomes Sri Lanka next month to the subcontinent.
With inputs from PTI
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 "'I can do what team wants in 40-50 balls, why bat 100 balls': Suryakumar Yadav on secret behind 360-degree technique")
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