India’s swashbuckling batsman Suryakumar Yadav has finally made it to the Team India T20 team ahead of the limited-overs series against England at home. The Mumbai batsman was picked for the Indian team after an impressive season in IPL 2020 where he played match-winning knocks for Mumbai Indians.
The selection ended a long wait for SKY to the Indian team. Recently, in an interview with the Indian Express, SKY stated that he was confident that his hard work would pay off someday. He said:
“Maybe the passion for this game kept driving me. I always used to feel that the more you work hard, the more success you will get in the times to come. I think the love for this game and the passion for this game kept driving me. Obviously, when I was amongst the runs, I used to think I will get picked… etc, etc. But at the same time, you got to be in the present. I just thought I’ll try and do what I can do. Right now I have opportunities coming my way and I just need to score runs. So that’s the only thing that kept me motivated.”
Suryakumar further added that his selection in the Indian squad was the result of a long process. He said:
“I don’t think it was an over overnight success thing. But in maybe in 2017 or 18, I realised it’s high time I did some smart work which can help me go one step ahead. So that was the year when I realised and I started working more on my game, started realising what I can do more to become a better batter, which can help me go one step ahead and become a better cricketer.”
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/3If7Et3gi8
— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) March 11, 2021
During the interview, when he was asked how he worked to make himself a better cricketer, he replied:
“Whenever I used to go back to my room after any game or after any tournament, I used to realise what I could have done better and what I can do better in the tournaments to come. So I used to jot down a lot of points, I started working on it, maybe a fitness-related (aspect) or maybe some mental aspect which I needed to cover. So I kept doing those small, small things at the right time. And I knew when the time is right, everything will fall into place.”
Though the Indian skipper hasn’t officially announced it but SKY looks all set to make his big debut in the first T20I against England today. It will be interesting to see how he performs.
