As Suryakumar Yadav picked Dewald Brevis at deep cover after racing to 21 off 12 deliveries off Ramakrishna Ghosh, it was the seventh instance of him falling to pacers this IPL season. While there hasn’t been a particular trend in terms of his struggles during this lean patch which has carried on from India colours, his repeated dismissals to pacers – one of his strongest suits – has thrown open a question whether opposition have found a way to expose his chinks.
But Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawadene has refused to get into it, and rather believed only a few scores away from finding the rhythm again. “Not really, I think if he gets a few scores together, I think he’ll find that rhythm, he batted really well today for that period, really took on the bowlers in that phase,” Jayawardene said.
In a season where Suryakumar has struggled for tempo in his knocks, on Saturday his arrival provided Mumbai Indians a much-needed momentum in the middle-overs. His three boundaries and the lone six he hit, showed signs of discovering his old-self, but against the run of play, went for another expansive shot that found Brevis.
“I think another couple of overs he could have been off for a really good score, I think sometimes when things are not going your way, it doesn’t fall in place, I think it was a pretty good shot going straight to the fielder. It’s one of those things, I played enough cricket to understand that. For us it’s about rather than just these one or two occasions, we just collectively have to figure out what we need to do, there’s a lot of phases during the tournament where a lot of things we could have done better, it’s not just one, so I think that’s how we need to look at it,” the former Sri Lanka captain said.
As Brevis took the catch, Suryakumar seemed visibly upset, putting his head down and looking at the pitch before dragging himself off in dismay. “I think he’s definitely up for it, I think he’s in a good space, it’s just that it hasn’t worked, the amount of times he’s got caught on the boundary this season, some of those shots are his shots, like even in the last game or the one before that, the flick where he got caught, so it’s just a matter of time, but I think he himself is disappointed, but just have to keep on working harder,” Jaywardene said.
With latest defeat pushing Mumbai Indians to the brink, and the players appearing tired, there is a scope to rotate players like Jasprit Bumrah. But Jayawardene said it is too early to say anything. “I think we’ve still got five more games, I mean anything can happen for us, we just need to finish the tournament positively and see what happens, I mean there’s a lot more cricket to be played, I don’t think mathematically we’re out from the tournament, so I’m going to fight and I’m sure the rest of the boys will do the same as well,” Jayawardene said.
