IPL 2021: Suryakumar Yadav struggling to find form ahead of T20 World Cup 2021 next month

The 31-year-old Suryakumar Yadav, who looked in fine touch when the India’s second team under Shikhar Dhawan toured Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs series, has scores of 0, 8, 5 and 3 in the four matches he has played in the IPL’s second leg.

Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav is dismissed for a duck against Punjab Kings in their IPL 2021 match. (Photo: ANI)

Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav was picked ahead of experienced opener Shikhar Dhawan of the Delhi Capitals for the T20 World Cup 2021 next month. However, the young Mumbai batsman has been struggling to find his touch ever since IPL 2021 resumed in the UAE earlier this month.

On Tuesday (September 28), there was yet another failure for Yadav with the willow as he was dismissed for first-ball duck by Ravi Bishnoi of Punjab Kings. Defending champions MI, however, went on to win the match by six wickets thanks to the efforts of Saurabh Tiwary and Hardik Pandya.

Former India cricketers Virender Sehwag and Ajay Jadeja sympathized with Yadav’s poor run of form and reckoned every player goes through such a phase and are confident that he will bounce back.

“It’s simple for SKY. His game hasn’t changed in a matter of a couple of days. The gap between bat and pad is never a concern for him because that’s his strength. He just needs to relax. I’m sure every player goes through this phase,” Jadeja said while speaking on Star Sports.

Sehwag reckoned of Suryakumar gets runs in the next game, people will forget about what happened in the past.

“Any player can go through a lack of form. If he scores runs in the next game and leads his team to victory, people will forget this bad spell of four matches. The team management could have made the call to drop him instead of Kishan,” Sehwag said.

Following another dismal performance by Yadav and Ishan Kishan being dropped from the playing XI against Punjab Kings, West Indian legend Brian Lara said that either the player were getting bogged down by India selection or they perhaps had lost the appetite to win.

Both the cricketers are a part of India’s T20 World Cup squad to be held in the UAE and Oman in October-November this year.

“Maybe Indian selection (one of the reasons for the dismal showing). A lot of guys maybe are sitting back on their laurels now. They remember the Indian team, something may be more important. But this is where your bread and butter is. Playing the IPL, this is where you have done it. Looking at Suryakumar, looking at Ishan Kishan, looking at (Saurabh) Tiwary, he looks hungrier than they are,” Lara said on Star Sports on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Suryakumar, who looked in fine touch when the India’s second team under Shikhar Dhawan toured Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs series, has scores of 0, 8, 5 and 3 in the four matches he has played in the IPL’s second leg. Kishan too has had dismal scores of 11, 14, and 9 in the UAE before he was dropped for the Punjab Kings match on Tuesday.

“For me, those guys have to be a little bit more professional now and try to help their team win the tournament. Forget the World Cup, this is your job now to get MI back into the tournament,” Lara added.