MI vs LSG: Suryakumar wishes he had shots like Brevis when he was a teen

Five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians have had a shocked start to the 2022 season, losing five games of the trot to remain at the bottom of the points table currently. However, Rohit Sharma’s side have something to cheer about thanks to the form of youngsters Dewald Brevis and Tilak Verma in IPL 2022 so far.

Top batter Suryakumar Yadav has also come back well from injury and has notched up two fifties in three games so far. However, Yadav – also known as ‘SKY’ – wishes that he had the range of shots in his teenage days like ‘Baby AB’ Dewald Brevis from South Africa.

“Dewald is lucky that he has come into one of the best teams in the IPL. With guys like Dewald and Tilak (Verma), we are trying to build a quality team for the next 3-4 years. Dewald is putting in a lot of hard-work in training but I just wish that I could play the kind of shots he is playing at that age,” Suryakumar Yadav told the media ahead of their next IPL 2022 match against Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday (April 16).

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South African Brevis scored a fantastic 49 against Punjab Kings in MI’s last match, which included 4 successive sixes of experienced leg-spinner Rahul Chahar. Suryakumar is currently the second-highest run-getter for MI in IPL 2022, in spite of missing the first couple of games with 168 runs at an average of 81.5 and a strike-rate of 158.25.

Suryakumar has been batting at the No. 5 position with MI this season to give more opportunity to Brevis and Tilak at the top. “The position that I bat is the team management’s call. I am always flexible and I enjoy batting in all positions. The number doesn’t matter to me anymore but the situation of the match does,” he added.

The 31-year-old Mumbai batter is coming into the IPL 2022 after recovering from a finger injury. Asked how he prepared for the IPL while recovering from injury, Suryakumar said, “No cricketer wants to get injured but it’s important to remain in a good mindset when one is injured. When I was injured I spoke a lot to Rohit (Sharma), who has also suffered a few finger injuries. I worked on few of my shots to ensure that when I would be back, I would be ready.”

Finally, asked how MI team is trying to keep themselves motivated, Suryakumar said, “Everyone is trying their level best. We have been playing good cricket from game one. We are following good processes and if we keep doing that we’ll get out first win soon.”