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The Hindu
The Hindu
Sport
Amol Karhadkar

‘Let me be Suryakumar Yadav’

Ready for an encore: Suryakumar says India almost ticked all boxes in the first ODI and will look to do it again. (Source: PTI)

Suryakumar Yadav has a knack of enlivening the mood around him. Often, during his decade-long stint in First Class cricket, the batter has been seen cheering up his teammates, sometimes even the opposition, with his jovial comments.

On Tuesday, his wit converted a mundane media session into an entertaining one with the batter and all those attending it virtually ending up in splits frequently during the interaction.

“Let me be Suryakumar Yadav,” was his witty response when he was compared with Michael Bevan, the great Australian finisher.

Be fearless

“With great difficulty, I have barely played five-seven games for India… but yes I am trying... whichever number I get to bat, I try and win the game for the team. Even if we bat first, I will do the same things. I will continue to express myself and be fearless as I always am.”

When asked about possible changes in India’s combination, he responded with a chuckle, saying “you have chosen the wrong person to ask.”

Later he was asked about sledging Kieron Pollard, the West Indies captain who is Suryakumar’s IPL teammate. The question took everyone back with Pollard having lasted just a ball on Sunday. “There wasn’t any time on Sunday since he was in a hurry to head back, I guess,” he said.

So what was the takeaway from the interaction? Suryakumar stressed that the Indian team will not get complacent and will be keen to the seal the series come Wednesday.

“We almost ticked all the boxes. It’s is a challenge to repeat what we did in the first game... let’s see, really looking forward to it,” he said.

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