'He knows what bowler will deliver before bowler himself': WI legend Bishop's big praise for MI's 'phenomenal player'

MI captain too hailed him as the only positive from the RCB loss after his impressive 37-ball 68

Despite a disastrous start to their campaign in 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma had only one positive to point out following their loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore where he hailed the MI star for showing the team in how to bat in tricky conditions. And en route to the player's knock on Saturday evening in Pune, West Indies legend Ian Bishop reserved the ultimate praise for the 31-year-old, hailing him as a phenomenal player.

Mumbai Indians team; West Indies legend Ian Bishop

Suryakumar Yadav had missed the first two games in IPL 2022 owing a hairline fracture in his thumb, but made an impressive return to the tournament with back-to-back half-centuries. After scoring 52 against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week, he pulled off a counter-punching 37-ball 68, laced with 5 boundaries and 6 sixes as Mumbai revived to post a total of 151 for 6.

Impressed with his knock, Bishop took to Twitter to write, “Suryakumar Yadav either has three shot options for each delivery; or he knows what the bowler is going to deliver before the bowler himself knows. Phenomenal player.”

"Definitely not a 150 pitch, Surya showed us if you bat sensibly, you can get more than what you got. Lot of credit to Surya at least to get us to 150, but we knew that it wasn't going to be enough," Rohit said in the post-match presentation.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri too was impressed with Suryakumar's attacking knock.

"Unbelievable. He played a gem in their last game. Today (Saturday) was really special. When you are 50/0 and then 89/6 and then your team scores 71 runs in the last 5 overs with Surya doing most of the damage, you know at the end of the knock as he passes by, say 'Surya Namaskar'," Shastri told Star Sports on Saturday.

"At the stage when you have your team on the mat, to throw a counter-punch like he did, it was amazing," he added.

Anuj Rawat's maiden IPL fifty and Virat Kohli's 48-run knock helped RCB wrap up the chase with nine balls to spare as they won by seven wickets to win their third straight match this season and inflict Mumbai's fourth-straight loss.

Mumbai now stand ninth in the points table, only above CSK, who as well are yet to open their account after playing as many matches.