Selfie-seekers queued up as Suryakumar Yadav stepped out of the Mumbai dressing room and headed towards the team bus after a long practice session at the Eden on Thursday.
With a broad smile, Surya humbly obliged all of them like he usually does. That too after having spent more than an hour at least with the bat at nets ahead of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash against Haryana beginning here on Saturday.
Remaining jolly most of the time certainly keeps the India T20I captain positive, which surely helps while playing at the highest level. But the fact is, Surya knows well he’s going through a difficult phase lately.
Captaincy-wise, there isn’t much to complain about as his team hammered England 4-1 in the recent T20I series. But personally, Surya tallied just 28 from five innings, including a couple of noughts. Even when he got off to decent starts on a couple of occasions, he failed to make them count. In a format which he usually dominates, such poverty of runs is a bit odd.
Not just in the England T20Is, even in the preceding Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Surya struggled to get going.
“Aa jayenge form mein... Time lagega thoda (Will return to form... Will take just a bit of time),” he said after Mumbai’s training session.
A few minutes after Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane was done with his batting practice, Surya entered the nets. For a good 40-45 minutes, he batted at the two main nets against the likes of all-rounders Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur alongside other Mumbai quicks and spinners.
Taking a little bit of a break thereafter, Surya was seen having a round of discussion with Mumbai head coach Omkar Salvi. And then again, he walked to the nets on the other side of the ground, spending a few more minutes with the bat, taking throwdowns and facing spinners.
Talking about his batting practice in two phases, Surya said: “I had to, given the situation... Also, it’s an important game coming up.”
The last time Surya batted at the Eden, during the first T20I against England last month, he couldn’t open his account. However, his knowledge of the Eden conditions should give him confidence, having played several matches here during his stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
“Yes, it’s always good to be here... Have done well here, so let’s see,” Surya said.
Against a Haryana bowling attack led by promising pacer Anshul Kamboj and on a pitch that’s likely to assist quicks, the task may not be too easy for Surya. But he is game for the challenge.
