Suryakumar playing with RCB bowlers: Sunil Gavaskar

Mumbai: Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has praised Mumbai Indians explosive batsman Suryakumar Yadav for his 360-degree batting against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), saying that he was playing with the RCB bowlers. RCB set a target of 200 runs in front of Mumbai on Tuesday, but Mumbai achieved this target in the 17th over with the help of a 140-run partnership between Suryakumar and Nehal Wadhera. Suryakumar won the Man of the Match award after scoring a blistering 83 off 35 balls with seven fours and six sixes.

Gavaskar said that Sky (Suryakumar Yadav) was playing with the bowlers. When he bats, it seems like street cricket is going on. Against RCB, he started off by hitting shots at long-on and long-off. Then he started playing shots all around. Wadhera, who shared a century partnership with Suryakumar, also displayed some blistering batting. He played 34 balls in an unbeaten innings of 51 runs, hitting four fours and three sixes.

On Vadhera’s innings, Gavaskar said, “When you are playing with Suryakumar, your confidence goes up, but the best thing about Nehal’s innings was that he was not trying to play shots like Surya.” His balance was unmatched. Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh also praised Wadhera and said that he has grabbed the opportunity given by the Mumbai team management with both hands. Harbhajan said that Nehal Wadhera has taken full advantage of his opportunities. He was brought in from the Under-25s in the Punjab Ranji Trophy and Mumbai made a commendable selection of him. He took advantage of the opportunities in the absence of Tilak Verma.