Family’s long wait ends

Suryakumar Yadav (centre) with father Ashokkumar (to Surya’s right), mother Sapana (left), wife Devisha and Mumbai cricketer and friend Siddhant Adatrao (extreme right) after receiving the India cap at Nagpur

After 13 years of first-class cricket toil, Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav, 32, achieved Test ranks in the opening Test of the 2022-23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Nagpur.

Surya's family flew down to the Orange city on Wednesday evening and witnessed his Test debut on Thursday.

"Is pal ka bahot sal se intajar tha [we were waiting for this moment for so many years]. He has already represented the country in T20Is and ODIs, but Test cricket is the ultimate format and we all want him to play Test cricket. We are all happy that he made his Test debut today [Thursday]," Surya's father Ashokkumar told mid-day from Nagpur.

Incidentally, in 2021, Ashokkumar told this newspaper that he wants his son to be like Mr Cricket, Michael Hussey and become India's Mr Cricket.

On the opening day of the current Test, Ashokkumar revealed how he made it to Nagpur despite his busy schedule. "Surya went into Test match mode as soon as he was included in the Test team. We learnt about his probable Test debut on Wednesday evening. We spoke over the phone; he was very happy. We soon booked our flight tickets and landed in Nagpur. I had some official commitments [on Wednesday], so I came by the 10 pm flight and reached here by midnight. Surya's mother [Sapana] and his wife [Devisha Shetty] reached Nagpur a few hours earlier," he remarked.

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Surya, who made his T20I debut against England at Ahmedabad in March 2021, is now ICC's No. 1 T20 batsman.

A special moment for Surya's family was to see him receive his Test cap from his former Team India coach Ravi Shastri. "That was a great feeling… we were very close to them and heard Shastri telling him to try and be the same batsman as he is in T20 cricket.

"Watching that and hearing such words from a person like Shastri, we felt so good. We were over the sky. I am sure Surya is not going to change his game. He will play according to the situation, but overall he doesn't want to change his game. I just told him, ‘play well, do well, enjoy the game and there's nothing to worry,' " revealed Ashokkumar.