Former Mumbai Indians batter Ambati Rayudu has revealed the kryptonite of team India’s very own Mr. 360 Suryakumar Yadav during commentary last night.
Suryakumar Yadav was in action yesterday at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium for the reverse fixture clash against table toppers Kolkata Knight Riders.
The 5-time champions, who headed into this match without any chances of reaching the IPL 2024 play-offs, were solely playing for their pride. However, they ended up suffering their second defeat of the season against KKR.
What’s the best to get Suryakumar Yadav out according to Ambati Rayudu?
While speaking to Star Sports in the build-up to Mumbai Indians’ chase of 158 runs from 16 overs, Ambati Rayudu decoded the main weakness of Suryakumar Yadav. Rayudu, who left MI the same season that Surya was bought, claimed that the latter struggles against quality bowlers who use the pitch and the side boundaries to their advantage.
It is a fact that Suryakumar Yadav tends to hide inside his shell when the time comes for him to perform against big opposition. During the T20 World Cup 2022, Surya didn’t play a single effective knock during a big match as he mostly scored runs against the minnows in the tournament.
Ambati Rayudu, who was a technically superior batsman himself, helped us understand why that happens. The 6-time IPL winner said that Surya’s most evident weakness is against those balls which are pitched wide and are slow in terms of pace.
Rayudu further added that smart oppositions often use the side boundaries to their advantage, something that was evident during the World Cup as well. Yesterday as well, the KKR had a solid plan against Surya as the ball he got out to was pitched wide outside off-stump by Andre Russell
As Suryakumar Yadav tried to heave the ball towards the leg side, the side boundary came to his disadvantage as he could not generate enough power in that shot. He also played against the merit of the ball and that’s why his attempt to send an off-sided ball towards the leg side remained unsuccessful.
“There is a plan in terms of bowling to Suryakumar Yadav. You bowl slow and you bowl wide. We have seen that in the World Cup as well. When the pitch is slow with a bigger boundary on one side, teams have a plan against him. He needs to work on that a little bit.” – Ambati Rayudu said via Star Sports.
Rayudu explains why MI lost to KKR
During the post-match, after KKR defeated Mi by 18 runs, Ambati Rayudu explained the main reason behind Mumbai’s loss. Rayudu claimed that that the batters didn’t bat with the most questionable part being their shot selection. With the ball hanging up after pitching, Rayudu thought that MI batters could have taken their time.
But in the end, it was the lack of batsmanship that cost Mumbai the entire game. “The ball was holding up, but I think their shot selections were poor. It was the lack of batsmanship that cost them.” – Ambati Rayudu concluded.