Suryakumar Yadav was earlier going through a lean patch but he has been doing well for the last few years. However, he recently played a key knock in the IPL and helped Mumbai Indians chase down RCB’s 200-run target with 21 balls to spare – the most in the history of IPL for successful 200-plus chases – at the Wankhede Stadium as well.

Suryakumar Yadav smashed six sixes in his fourth half-century in his last six IPL innings but he was also quite efficient at finding the gaps, drilling seven boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking as well. He ended up with 83 off 35 balls as well. Such was the quality of his strokeplay that Virat Kohli, who generally is feisty on the cricket field, came to him and hugged him when he was returning to the dressing room.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said, “It seems he (Suryakumar) bats on a computer.” The legendary Sunil Gavaskar too spoke on similar lines. He said SKY’s batting gave him feel of “gully cricket” where the batters “toy” with the bowlers. “SKY was toying with the bowlers. He gives you a feeling of gully cricket when he’s batting like that. He’s just gotten better with practice and hard work. His bottom hand is so powerful that he uses it to perfection. Against RCB, he started with hitting towards long-on and long-off and later agricultural shots all around the park,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports’ Cricket Live.

However, Suryakumar Yadav said that he had to adjust his approach as RCB took pace off the ball to make six-hitting difficult. “They came up with a plan here,” said Suryakumar, who formed a 140-run partnership with Nehal Wadhera (52 not out). They knew they had to bowl slow, make me hit towards the bigger boundary and not give me pace.”

Suryakumar said that he had been practising for such situations as well. “Your practice has to be the same as to what you want to do in the matches,” he added. “I do proper practice. We have open net sessions and I keep the fielders on and come out of my comfort zone … I know my game, I know where my runs are and I don’t do anything different.”

Speaking of Wadhera, Sunil Gavaskar said, “When you are batting with SKY your confidence is boosted, but the best thing about Nehal Wadhera’s innings was that he wasn’t looking to play shots like SKY. The best thing about him is that his balance was superb.”