Suryakumar Yadav is a doubtful starter for the Mumbai Indians’ first two games of the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting March 22.
The batter is still recuperating from sports hernia and yet to join the Mumbai Indians squad.
While Mark Boucher, the Mumbai Indians head coach, remained non-committal about Suryakumar’s availability, The Hindu understands that Suryakumar is still undergoing his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Mumbai Indians will begin its campaign with away games against Gujarat Titans (March 24) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (March 27). While the franchise is optimistic about Suryakumar joining the squad ahead of its first home game on April 1, there is no clarity about his fitness clearance.
“Surya at the moment is on the guidance of the Indian cricket team as well. Just waiting for updates on that. I don’t like to micromanage.
“We have got a world class medical team that’s in control of all of that,” Boucher said on Monday during the franchisee’s pre-season media conference.
“We have had a few fitness issues. We are always going to be in that sort of domain of having fitness issues as other teams are as well. We trust our medical team that they are doing the right things. If we lose one or two from fitness perspective, it is what it is. We just have to keep on the right track and sharp on replacements.”
It is understood that neither Suryakumar, who has been on the sidelines since last December, nor the BCCI medical team wants to rush his comeback considering his importance for India’s T20 World Cup campaign in June.
