Mumbai batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who has been named in India A’s upcoming tour to New Zealand has said that he is now finding it hard to cope up with the anxiety surrounding his potential call-up to the national team. Despite being a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, he has not been selected. He is the key player for Mumbai in the domestic tournaments like the Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy etc. Even he is a regular face of Mumbai Indians in IPL as well.
“I have never gone through such a thing in life about the India selection thing. I have heard from team-mates who played for India, that the anxiety of being so near to playing for India is hard to explain. It’s the first time I am dealing with it and I just want it to get over soon. Get back to my normal life,” Yadav told Indian Express.
“The other day I was seated in this same restaurant and finished my dinner, I was on my way out when an old man came running and asked, ‘Are you, Suryakumar Yadav?’ I said, yes. He said, ‘I’m watching your batting; you will soon play for India’. It’s a routine now. The waiter, the driver, watchman, milkman, liftwala, kids who play down in my building, are all telling me this. I just say thank you but it’s tough now to get over it ,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav talked about the mental stress of being at the helm of close to selection, and how sometimes the praise about his performances also impacts his game on the field as well.
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“Sometimes I don’t know whom to talk to. People say not to think too much. It’s easy to say. But the mind goes there automatically. I can’t help it. One day I couldn’t sleep till 5 am. The anxiety is at its peak. Other day in Surat I was mobbed at the station,” he said.
“It (the praise) did hit me during few innings. It made me pre-decide my strokes. Ke ab use aisa maaroonga, waise maroonga. (How I will hit a bowler in a particular way). The kind of thought any player thinks in these situations. The online world has been craziest; Instagram has been loaded with messages. I try not to see it but it’s human behaviour to get attracted to praises. Sometimes I wanted to switch off my mobile data but there is a group of WhatsApp of my team. As a captain I need to send and share team meetings and other stuff,” the explosive batsman expressed.
However, he remains determined to improve as a batsman. Even he is spending from his own pocket to ensure he travelled and found the right kind of practice venues during this Ranji Trophy season. He travelled to Bangalore, Indore and Dharamsala to get a suitable pitch for practice during the Mumbai monsoons.
“When I went to bat this time, I was prepared for any situation. And when the ball hit the bat, I felt as if I had already faced it a lot of times before; I was ready before the season started. That confidence helped. I had told myself that practicing indoors was of no use. The ball comes straight. I wanted to train outside, in conditions I would be facing in matches. Things are very different outdoors, as compared to training inside, the difference between real and reel, you can say,” he concluded.
