30 October,2020 07:20 AM IST | Mumbai | Shishir Hattangadi
Mumbai Indiansu00c3u0083u00c2u00a2u00c3u0082u00c2u0080u00c3u0082u00c2u0099' Suryakumar Yadav plays an upper cut en route his unbeaten 79 against RCB at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. PIC: BCCI/IPL
IF Devdutt Padikkal is the new challenger for the future, Suryakumar Yadav must be the sunshine for Indian cricket.
The Australian perishing to a soft dismissal just when the pressure was building on the Mumbai Indians was a defining moment in the game.
The Bangalore side's performance in the middle order depends a lot on how skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers decimate the opposition, but both perished soon and a target of 165 was modest. MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah has the ability to throttle batting sides with his misery and wicket-taking skills and his figures of 4-1-14-3 tell you a story that we are now familiar with.
Mumbai have been chasing totals positively. Their template has been to seize the day in the powerplay. This time, it didn't come off.
Yadav has been on the periphery of team selection for a while. Unlucky to miss out on selection for the Australian tour, he stood up tall with an unbeaten 79 at an impressive strike rate of 183. He provided a reminder that rejection will only push him to prove a point.
Yadav will grow with each outing and Wednesday's innings embodied maturity to take disappointments that are inevitable on one's chin and move forward.
Also Read: IPL 2020: Suryakumar Yadav showed burning desire to don India jersey, says Kieron Pollard
Mumbai's strength has been the lack of dependency on the success of one or two players to give a competitive account of themselves. RCB will need to find a solution to that problem and a contingency plan for a bad day at the office!
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