Suryakumar Yadav's coming of age has been a revelation in Indian cricket. He was the biggest story of the year 2022, rising to the pinnacle of the ICC T20I rankings for batters and playing some breath-taking innings throughout. Be it the electric half-century against South Africa at Perth in the T20 World Cup, or the unbeaten 111 against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, SKY has been unstoppable with his 360-degree range of hitting. If until now, India's batting was mostly about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar has deservedly become a fine addition and solved India's long wait for a No. 4 batter.
Suryakumar, along with Kohli and Rohit, forms the big three of Indian batting, and it is only fitting that both have played different roles in his career. Suryakumar blossomed under Rohit at Mumbai Indians, which made him the star that he is and with Kohli, SKY has put on some of the most memorable partnerships for Team India this year. Speaking on the camaraderie he shares with the two biggest Indian batting superstars, Suryakumar admits he is 'really lucky' to have Kohli and Rohit besides him.
"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. 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," he told PTI.
MI is where Suryakumar started making heads turn. Having come on board the franchise four summers ago, Suryakumar had two breakthrough seasons in 2019 and 2020 scoring 424 and 480 runs respectively as MI won the IPL title successive years. Suryakumar was a bit hard done when he wasn't picked in India's squad for the limited-overs series in Australia but his dream came true a couple of months later when he made his India debut against England at home. All that, as SKY acknowledges, wouldn't have been possible without his stint with MI.
{{/usCountry}}MI is where Suryakumar started making heads turn. Having come on board the franchise four summers ago, Suryakumar had two breakthrough seasons in 2019 and 2020 scoring 424 and 480 runs respectively as MI won the IPL title successive years. Suryakumar was a bit hard done when he wasn't picked in India's squad for the limited-overs series in Australia but his dream came true a couple of months later when he made his India debut against England at home. All that, as SKY acknowledges, wouldn't have been possible without his stint with MI.
{{/usCountry}}"Let me elaborate about MI’s contribution first. When I came back here from KKR in 2018, I was looking for an opportunity to bat higher up the order and even without me asking, the management entrusted me with that responsibility. I grabbed that opportunity, kept performing and never looked back. MI provided me with all the facilities I required to move up the ladder," added Suryakumar.