The Mumbai Indians registered their first win of the 2023 Indian Premier League season earlier this week, when the side defeated Delhi Capitals in a final-ball thriller. Chasing 173 to win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, the MI were cruising at 139/1 in the 16th over when it faced a nervy collapse, with Tilak Varma (41), Suryakumar Yadav (0), and Rohit Sharma (65) departing in quick succession. With two runs to win off the final ball, Tim David kept his calm as he played a grounded shot, and took a clever double to take the side to victory.
During the first innings of the game, the team faced a big setback as Suryakumar Yadav was hit above his eye while fielding; in the 17th over, Suryakumar dropped Axar Patel and to add salt to the wounds, the ball hit above his eye and the batter was forced off the field to receive treatment.
Following the match, MI's head coach Mark Boucher revealed that despite being injured, Suryakumar told him he wants to go at number four when the side returns for the run-chase. The 32-year-old has been batting at number 4 for MI since their opening game of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“He did get hit on the field, he came in, and his eye was starting to swell. He had to ice it. I came in thinking, maybe we move him down in the order. He meets me in the bathroom and says, 'coach, actually I want to bat 4'. For me, that's not shying away from anything,” Boucher told the rest of the team members after the win.
{{/usCountry}}“He did get hit on the field, he came in, and his eye was starting to swell. He had to ice it. I came in thinking, maybe we move him down in the order. He meets me in the bathroom and says, 'coach, actually I want to bat 4'. For me, that's not shying away from anything,” Boucher told the rest of the team members after the win.
{{/usCountry}}“These are the type of characters you want in the dressing room. When the times are tough, they're not scared to hide on the back of the change room. They want to go out there. So, well done,” Boucher further added.